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DISCOURSES 



VARIOUS POINTS 



CHRISTIAN FAITH AND PRACTICE : 



MOST OF WHICH "WERE DELIVERED 



CHAPEL OF THE ORATOIRE. 



IN PARIS, 



IN THE SPRING OF M.DCCC.XV1 



THOMAS H. GALLAUDET, 

PRINCIPAL OF THE CONNECTICUT ASYLUM, IN THE UNITED STATES OF 
AMERICA, FOR THE EDUCATION OF THE DEAF AND DUMB 



/ 

HARTFORD : 

PUBLISHED BY SAMUEL, G. GOODRICH 

1818, 





T5V4-2 5" 3 



& 



3 



SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF xNEW-YORK, SS. 

BE it remembered, that on the fourteenth day of April, in the forty-second year 
of the Independence of the United States of America, THOMAS H. GALLAUDET, 
of the said District, halh deposited in this office the title of a book, the right whereof 
he claims as Author and Proprietor, in the words and figures following, to wit : 

" Discourses on various points of Christian Faith and Practice, most of which 
a were delivered in the Chapel of the Oratoire in Paris, in the spring of 1816. 
" By Thomas H. Gallaudet, Principal of the Connecticut Asylum, in the United 
" States of America, for the education of the Deaf and Dumb." 
In conformity to the Act of the Congress of the United States, entitled " An Act for 
die encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts and books to 
the Authors and Proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned." And 
also to an Act entitled " An Act supplementary to an Act entitled an Act for the encour- 
agement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts and books to the Authors and 
Proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned and extending the benefits 
hereof to the arts of designing, engraving and etching historical and other prints." 

JAMES DILL, Clerk'of the Southern District of New- York, by 
EDWARD TRENOR, Assistant Clerk. 



George Goodwin & Sons, 
Printers Hartford. 



TO 

MRS. HANNAH MORE, 



MADAM, 



When I was informed by a mutual Friend, 
whose worth you have long known, that I might 
venture to place at the head of the following Dis- 
courses, a name ever to be cherished in the annals 
of the Redeemer's Kingdom, I was somewhat en- 
couraged to present them to the public eye ; feeling 
secure that they would at least be considered as 
containing nothing which would tend to injure that 
cause to which your Life and Talents have been so 
successfully devoted, and that, possibly, they might 
serve, in some humble degree, to promote it. — 
Most of them were delivered while I was prosecu- 
ting in Paris, under the auspices of the venerable 
Abbe Sicard and his interesting Pupil, Clerc, my 
present fellow-labourer, the object of qualifying 
myself to instruct an unfortunate and too long neg- 
lected portion of my countrymen, the Deaf and 
Dumb. Several of your Nation and my own, taught 
in their own lands to hallow the Sabbath of the 
Lord, felt a desire to do this in the splendid and 
voluptuous City where they had assembled, as their 
surest safeguard against its fascinating seductions, 



and, at the request of this little flock of Strangers, I 
became their temporary Preacher in the Chapel of 
the Oratoire, to which we were very kindly allowed 
access. 

You were once pleased, Madam, to express a 
lively interest in the object which carried me to 
Europe, and it may afford you some pleasure to 
know, that it has so far been crowned with the 
smiles of a kind Providence, that within the course 
of six months after the commencement of the Asy- 
lum with which I am connected, it has begun to 
impart its benefit to thirty pupils. 

In such a sphere of action, I shall deem myself 
truly happy in being made the instrument of leading 
one immortal mind to that Saviour in whose service 
your labours have been blessed with such a rich 
harvest of success. That He may long continue 
this your extensive usefulness, and shed upon your 
declining days the choicest consolations of His 
presence and His grace, is, Madam, the earnest 
prayer of one, who, with thousands of his Country- 
men, has long been taught to venerate your name 
and character, 

THE AUTHOR, 



CONTENTS. 



DISCOURSE I. 

I John i. S. — That which we have seen and heard declare 
we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us : 
and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his 
Son Jesus Christ ------.--'---- i 

DISCOURSE II. 

Matt. xi. 30. — For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light 18 

DISCOURSE III. 
I$Iatt. xi. 30. — For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light 80 

DISCOURSE IV. 

1 Cor. xi. 29. — For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, 
eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning 
the Lord's body 42 

DISCOURSE V. 

Matt. iii. 8. — Bring forth, therefore., fruits meet for repen- 
tance - ---------------- 56 

DISCOURSE VI. 

Matt. vi. 10. — Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in 
earth, as it is in heaven -----69 



VI CONTENTS. 

DISCOURSE VII. 

John i. 12. — But as many as received him, to them gave he 
power to become the sons of God, even to them that be- 
lieve on his name - ---------.---.84 

DISCOURSE VIII, 

John xiv. 1. — Let not your heart be troubled : ye believe in 
God, believe also in me---- 98 - 

DISCOURSE IX. 

Coloss. iii. 23. — And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to 
the Lord, and not unto men ---------- 115 

DISCOURSE X. 

John v. 39. — Search the Scriptures ; for in them ye think ye 
have eternal life : and they are they which testify of me ISO 

DISCOURSE XI. 

John vi. 44. — No man can come to me, except the Father, 
which hath sent me, draw him 145 

DISCOURSE XII. 

John vi. 44. — No man can come to me, except the Father, 
which hath sent me, draw him 160 

DISCOURSE xnr. 

Acts iii. 19. — Repent ye, therefore, and be converted, that 
your sins may be blotted out - - - - - - - ■» . \ 177 

DISCOURSE XIV. 

Hebrews xii. 2. — Looking unto Jesus, the author and fin- 
isher of our Faith - ---*..- 198 



CONTENTS. Vll 

DISCOURSE XV. 

Hebrews xii. 2. — Looking unto Jesus, the author and fin- 
isher of our Faith -..._ 209 

DISCOURSE XVI. 

{Delivered at the opening of the Connecticut Asylum for the Education 
of Deaf and Dumb persons.) 

Isaiah xxxv. 5, 6. — Then the eyes of the blind shall be 
opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then 
shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the 
dumb sing ; for in the wilderness shall waters break out, 
and streams in the desert ----------- 221 



DISCOURSE I 



I JOHN i. 3. 

That which ice have seen and heard declare we unto 
you, that ye also may have fellowship with us : and 
truly our fellowship is with the Father , and with 
his Son Jesus Christ. 

W^e are assembled, my brethren, under very 
interesting circumstances. At a distance from our 
respective homes, we have met together in a foreign 
land for the purpose of mingling our devotions 
before the altar of our common Father. And while 
I would congratulate you upon an event so likely, I 
trust, to prove salutary to us all ; while I would men- 
tion with thankfulness the kindness of our Christian 
friends, who thus generously furnish us with so conve- 
nient a place for worship ; I should poorly discharge 
the duties of the sacred office, did I not call upon 
you to look with the eye of gratitude to that Being 
whose superintending providence directs all the 
concerns of this lower world, and to whom we are 
ultimately indebted for every good and every perfect 

1 



2 DISCOURSE 1. 

gift. It is his Hand that has gathered us together 
— a little flock. It is to Him that we owe this ines- 
timable privilege of treading his earthly courts. It 
is his presence and blessing which can alone render 
our services acceptable in his sight. It is his Word 
which we expect to hear. It is his Gospel that is to 
sound in our ears. It is his Son that is to be offered 
to us as the object of our faith, and as the only 
Saviour of our souls. And as we improve or abuse 
these occasions of learning his will and our duty, 
we must expect to receive at last the kindest tokens 
of his love, or the severest marks of his displeasure. 
With these momentous truths in view, and feeling 
my own weakness and insufficiency, I venture to 
address you, and, as an ambassador of Jesus Christ, 
to solicit your serious attention to all you may hear 
that is conformable to the oracles of Divine Truth. 
And may the Source of all Truth shed down his 
wisdom upon our minds, and his grace upon our 
hearts, while we attend at this time to the portion 
jof Scripture recorded in our text ! " That which we 
have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye 
also may have fellowship with us ; and truly our fel- 
lowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus 
Christ." 

Religion is seated in the heart — an inward, secret 
principle of thought and action. Thence it com- 
municates life and activity to the whole spiritual 
man. Its hidden workings are seen by the eye of 
Omniscience alone. We can ascertain its existence, 
and trace its operations, only by its effects upon the 



DISCOURSE I. O 

outward appearance and conduct : and there we 
have to observe it acting uniformly through all the 
various forms of human character. It occupies, 
with the same Divine influence, the breast of the 
prince and the beggar — of the wise and the igno- 
rant — of the old and the young — of the refined and 
the rude — of the civilized and the savage — of the 
freeman and the slave. In this respect, it resembles 
both the principle of vitality and of intellect in man. 
God breathes into man the breath of life. Its im- 
pulse causes the heart to throb and the blood to 
flow, under all the diversities of human counte- 
nance, complexion, and structure. However great 
these diversities may be, man, wherever y@u find 
him, has one uniform principle of animal life. The 
same is true of his intellectual character : " There 
is a spirit in man ; and the inspiration of the Al- 
mighty giveth them understanding." This imma- 
terial and immortal principle, the gift of the Father 
of spirits, displays the same general characteristics, 
and appears to be governed by the same laws, 
whether you view it in the philosopher or the child 
— in the lettered recluse or the busy man of the 
world. There is, in like manner, an unity, a oneness 
of religious principle in the hearts of all sincere 
Christians, of whatever age, or climate, or nation ; 
of whatever rank or condition in life : " For they 
are all born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, 
nor of the will of man, but of God." He is their 
common spiritual Father, and they all bear the 
impress of his moral image on their hearts. Nor 



4 DISCOURSE I. 

let it be said, that the various forms of church gov- 
ernment and the different modes of external worship 
which pervade the Christian world, or even articles 
of faith, dissimilar in some particulars, are appearan- 
ces difficult to be reconciled with this oneness of the 
Christian character. For these appearances are no 
more strange than that, in the animal and intellec- 
tual constitution of man, the same general principles 
should exist under such a variety of external forms. 
Man is the same, as to body and mind, amid all 
the diversities which these two parts of his nature 
present to our view. The Christian is the same, as 
to real holiness of heart, amid all the various out- 
ward appearances his piety may assume, while 
exhibiting itself in persons of different conditions or 
circumstances in life. Nor is the wisdom of provi- 
dence more to be arraigned in the latter case than 
in the former. " He hath made of one blood all na- 
tions of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth ;" 
and yet he hath so ordered events, that the diversities 
of the human countenance, and structure, and mind, 
are infinite. " Christians have been all made to 
drink into one spirit ;" yet " unto every one is given 
grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ :" 
and hence the external varieties which are discern- 
ible among the members of the Christian church* 
In both dispensations, God, no doubt, has wise pur- 
poses to answer, which may, perhaps, hereafter be 
disclosed to us. Without being too curious, there- 
fore, to inquire into the reason why He permits so 
much apparent difference to exist among Christians, 



DISCOURSE I. O 

jet us look, my brethren, at a brighter view of our 
subject. Let us " endeavour to keep the unity of 
the Spirit in the bond of peace," while we consider, 
first, What abundant proof there is that all the true 
followers of Jesus have fellowship with one another, 
and with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ : 
and, secondly, In what this fellowship consists. 

I. There is abundant proof that all the true fol- 
lowers of Jesus have fellowship with one another, 
and with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. 
The Scriptures are full of testimony on this point. 
They use the boldest metaphors, when speaking of 
the relation which subsists between Christians and 
their Divine Master. He is the Vine, and they are 
the branches. He is the Corner-stone, and they are 
the superstructure. He is the Bread which is neces- 
sary to support their spiritual life. He is the Head, 
and they are the members of his body, of his flesh 
and of his bones, and members also one of another. 
They are all baptized by one Spirit into one body, 
whether Jews or Gentiles, whether bond or free ; 
and have been all made to drink into one spirit. In 
our Saviour's prayer for his disciples, on the night 
preceding his crucifixion, he uttered these memora- 
ble words : " Neither pray I for these alone, but for 
them also which shall believe on me through their 
word : that they all may be one ; as thou, Father, 
art in me, and I in thee ; that they also may be one 
in us : that the world may believe that thou hast sent 
me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have 



DISCOURSE I. 



given them, that they may be one, even as we are 
one : I in them, and thou in me, that they may be 
made perfect in one ; and that the world may 
know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them 
as thou hast loved me." Christ here prayed for all 
his followers, through the successive ages of the 
Gospel dispensation, down to the end of time. His 
prayer was heard and answered. And if any one 
doctrine of the Scriptures is capable of the most 
complete and overwhelming proof, it is this — that 
all sincere Christians are one ; that they are one in 
God and Christ ; one in spirit, even as the Father 
and the Son are one. 

How fully, too, is this truth confirmed and illus- 
trated by the experience of all believers ! The 
humble follower of Jesus, on whom calamity hath 
brought poverty, and poverty obscurity, cut off from 
the comforts of this world, draws all his consola- 
tions from the resources of Faith. He unfolds the 
sacred volume, and wonders, with holy delight, at 
finding the saints of old engrossed with the same 
objects of confidence, and hope, and love which 
now cheer and animate his own breast. With 
Abraham, and Isaac and Jacob, his mind is stayed 
upon God. He sings with Moses the song of deliv- 
erance, and with David the hymns of praise. He 
enters into all their feelings of devotion. He min- 
gles his soul with theirs. With them, he surrounds 
their own altar, and offers up the sacrifice of a bro- 
ken and a contrite heart, and the incense of a pure 
and spiritual worship. As he approaches the ad- 



DISCOURSE I. 7 

vent of our Saviour, he exclaims with the mother of 
Jesus, u My soul doth magnify the Lord ; and my 
spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour." He 
catches the holy rapture of Zecharias, saying, 
" Blessed be the Lord God of Israel ; for he hath 
visited and redeemed his people, and hath raised 
up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his 
servant David." He glows with the gratitude of 
Simeon, and with him is ready to exclaim, " Lord, 
now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for 
mine eyes have seen thy salvation." But why need 
I proceed ? The time would fail me to tell of all 
the saints of whom the Scriptures speak ; of the 
illustrious martyrs, whose blood was the seed of the 
church ; and of the pious of succeeding ages, in 
whose steps the follower of Jesus finds himself now 
walking, and in whose history he sees reflected the 
experience of his own heart. 

And cannot you also, my Christian brethren, tes- 
tify to the delight which you have often felt in this 
fellowship of the saints ? Have not your hearts 
sometimes burned within you while reading the 
lives of the pious dead, or while holding converse 
with a fellow-pilgrim to the heavenly Jerusalem ? 
And have you not then realized, that there is indeed 
" one body, and one spirit, even as ye are called, 
in one hope of your calling : one Lord, one faith, 
one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is 
above all, and through all, and in you all ?" It 
would be pleasant to dwell longer on this delightful 
iheme ; but it becomes necessary, in the second 



8 DISCOURSE I. 

place, to consider in what consists the fellowship 

which Christians have with the Father and his Son, 
and with each other. 

II. Here, my brethren, we approach a subject 
calculated to fill the soul with wonder and joy. 
Here, too, we may well feel the darkness of our 
minds, and realize the narrowness of the circle 
which confines the extent of our moral vision. Here 
reason fails, and faith, " which is the substance of 
things hoped for, and the evidence of things not 
seen," asserts her undivided empire in the heart. 
Recal to your minds the emphatical words of our 
Saviour, in his prayer for all his disciples, — " that 
they all may be one ; as thou, Father, art in me, 
and I in thee, that they also may be one in us," — 
" that they may be one, even as we are one : I in 
them, and thou in me ; that they may be made 
perfect in one." What a stupendous thought ! The 
infinite, the eternal, the incomprehensible Jehovah, 
the high and holy One that inhabiteth the praises 
of eternity, and his Son, " who is the brightness 
of the Father's glory, and the express image of his 
person," condescend to unite themselves with every 
believer in Jesus. Man is admitted to communion 
with his Maker. By faith in Christ, " he is joined 
unto the Lord, and is one spirit with him." 

The precise nature of this oneness, which Christians 
enjoy with their God and Saviour, " it hath not enter- 
ed into the heart of man to conceive." It is, howev- 
er, most real, intimate, imperishable, endearing. To 



DISCOURSE I. » 

say, that it involves no mystery, is to oppose the di- 
rect testimony of Scripture ; and to reject this truth, 
because it is mysterious, is as absurd as to deny that 
" in God we live, and move, and have our being," 
because we do not perceive, and cannot compre- 
hend, the mode of our existence in him. We 
should, indeed, be careful, on the one hand, not to 
run into unnecessary mysticism and obscurity, in 
contemplating religious truth ; yet we should as 
cautiously avoid, on the other, the unhallowed 
boldness of a rash spirit of inquiry, which will not 
deign to own that it now sees but " through a glass 
darkly ;" which pretends to draw aside the veil 
that conceals the hidden things of God from our 
view, and already to walk in the brightness of 
that future world of light, whose inhabitants will 
know even as they are known. Let not such, 
my brethren, be the presumptuous character of 
our speculations. Let us remember, that here 
" we walk by faith and not by sight." Let us 
rejoice in the consoling truth, that all the sincere 
disciples of Jesus have fellowship with each other, 
and with the Father and with his Son, although 
the nature of this communion may be too deep 
a subject for our limited understandings to fathom. 
And let it be one excitement to our Christian 
progress — a star like that of Bethlehem, to di- 
rect and animate our steps toward heaven — that 
there, these clouds of obscurity will be for ever 
dissipated, and a clear light be shed on the present 
mysteries of providence and graco. Said our Sav 



10 DISCOURSE I. 

iour to his disciples, " In that day," referring to 
the day of resurrection, " ye shall know that I 
am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.' 7 
Still it may be profitable to push our inquiries a 
little farther into this interesting subject, which 
we may do safely if we take for our guide the 
word of God. There, is disclosed to us the im- 
portant truth, that " hereby do believers know 
that they dwell in God, and he in them, because 
he hath given them of his Spirit." By this Spirit 
they are all created anew in Christ Jesus, and 
are made partakers of the Divine nature. And 
this nature is love. " God is Love : and he that 
dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God in 
him." Here, then, is no room left for doubt or mis- 
take. Communion with God, although inexplicable 
in its nature, discovers the reality of its existence by 
its effect. This effect is a holy love occupying the 
heart and regulating all its affections and desires. 
It is opposed to that selfishness which is the natural 
growth of the human heart, which seeks the gratifi- 
cation of its own sinful propensities and desires at 
the expense of the happiness of others, and in direct 
repugnance to the best good of all the intelligent 
creation. It holds no fellowship with those who 
make the enjoyments of this vain and transitory 
world, its riches, its honours, and its pleasur3s their 
chief good. On the contrary, this divine love, 
which constitutes the oneness of the Christian 
character, and forms the bond of union between 
Jehovah and all holy beings, is directed to Him 



DISCOURSE I. 11 

as alone able to satisfy its boundless desires. It 
delights to dwell on his character as displayed 
in the works of creation, of providence and re- 
demption. It is filled with awe of his power and 
majesty, with admiration of his wisdom, with hu- 
mility in contemplating his purity, with dread of 
his justice, and with gratitude for his mercy. — 
It rejoices in submission to his will. It relies 
with confidence on his strength. It trusts impli- 
citly in his promises. It longs to be made the 
humble, yet cheerful instrument of carrying in- 
to effect, within its own limited sphere of ac- 
tion, his wise and benevolent purposes. The 
believer, under the influence of this divine love, 
often soars to Heaven on the wings of devout 
meditation, and becomes swallowed ^up in the 
view of the riches of the goodness of God, through 
a crucified Saviour. He is lost in holy admi- 
ration of the wisdom which devised, and the 
benevolence which executed, the wonderful plan 
of Redemption. He remembers, too, at what price 
he was bought, and by whom it was paid. Je- 
sus appears to him " the chief among ten thousand, 
and altogether lovely." Christ dwells in his heart 
by faith ; and being thus rooted and grounded in 
love, his unceasing prayer and endeavour is to be 
enabled " to comprehend with all saints, what is 
the breadth, and length, and depth, and height ; 
and to know the love of Christ which passelh 
knowledge, that he may be filled with all the ful- 
ness of God." 



12 DISCOURSE I. 

The same love which thus directs the affections 
of the believer to his God and Saviour, enkindles 
them also with good will and charity toward his 
fellow-men. He forgets not the declaration of the 
Apostle, " If a man say, I love God, and hateth his 
brother, he is a liar : for he that loveth not his bro- 
ther, whom he hath seen, how can he love God 
whom he hath not seen ?" " If we love one anoth- 
er, God dwelleth in us." The believer, therefore, 
is careful to " put on, as the elect of God, holy and 
beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness 
of mind, meekness, long suffering." And these dis- 
positions towards his fellow-men, and especially 
towards those who are of the household of faith, he 
manifests by assiduously and affectionately endeav- 
ouring to promote their best interests, both spiritual 
and temporal. He " visits the widows and the fath- 
erless in their afflictions." He feeds the hungry, and 
clothes the naked. Above all, he is anxious to ad- 
minister the bread of life to those who are ready to 
perish. How does he long that all men should 
" taste and see that the Lord is gracious !" How 
would he persuade those " who labour and are heavy 
laden," who are sick of the vanities and delusive 
pleasures of this world, and burdened with a sense 
of their guilt, to resort to Jesus Christ, and " find rest 
unto their souls !" And while he sees how many 
neglect the invitation of the Gospel, and reject that 
Saviour whose blood was poured out to procure 
remission of sins, and the hope of pardon and 
reconciliation to God for our miserable race, how 



DISCOURSE I. 13 

is his " heart sore pained within him !" How 
often does he take up the language of the proph- 
et of old, " Give glory to the Lord your God, 
before he cause darkness, and before your feet 
stumble upon the dark mountains." " But if ye 
will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places 
for your pride." 

Such are the characteristics of that Divine love 
which exists in the heart of every sincere believer. 
This love displays the oneness of the Christian char- 
acter. It is the effect and also the evidence, of that 
fellowship of the saints which they enjoy with the 
Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. It is the 
principle, the very heart's blood, of their spiritual 
life, nourishing and animating the whole process of 
their growth in grace. It beats in every pious 
breast, although its impulse is often checked, and 
sometimes suspended, by remaining corruption and 
sin. Then is experienced the moral lethargy of the 
soul. Then is such a death-like hue cast over all 
the features of piety, that scarcely any traces of its 
existence remain. But it has not for ever fled. It 
is again quickened into action by the life-giving 
Spirit of God. The Christian, thus reanimated, 
once more breathes the air of heaven, and becomes 
" strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might." 
He pursues his journey heavenward with alacrity 
and delight ! " Wisdom's ways" again become to 
him u ways of pleasantness, and all her paths 
peace." Think it not strange, therefore, my breth- 
ren, that the principle of Divine love, on which rests 



14 DISCOURSE I. 

the oneness of the Christian character, is subject to 
so much irregularity in its operations, and displays 
itself under such a variety of forms. The present is 
a state of imperfection and sin. The believer is 
sanctified but in part. The most pious are not yet 
freed from the weaknesses and corruptions of a de- 
praved nature. But, blessed be God, such will not 
always be the condition of those who have put their 
trust in Jesus, and have been born again in his im- 
age. Even now, as they make progress in the divine 
life, and engage with increasing ardour in the com- 
mon cause which they have espoused, how are their 
u hearts knit together in love," while the differences 
of sect or party, or denomination, melt away, and 
are forgotten ! but the time will arrive, when their 
resemblance to each other will be more striking ; 
when their communion will be more intimate and 
delightful ; when they shall enjoy complete and 
uninterrupted fellowship with each other, and with 
the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. For 
they shall " all come in the unity of the faith, and 
of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect 
man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness 
of Christ." 

And now, would to God that I could press this 
subject, with all its importance and interest, upon 
such of you, my dear hearers, as have no fellowship 
with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ ! On 
earthly objects, where all is deceitful and transitory, 
where all is " vanity and vexation of spirit," you fas- 



DISCOURSE I. 15 

ten the desires of your immortal souls. The world, 
which has so often disappointed or betrayed you, 
and of which you so often complain, is still your 
chief good. Your fellowship is with mammon and 
his deluded followers. And what does such a com- 
munion promise you ? The enjoyment, perhaps, of 
sensual pleasure, the accumulation of wealth, the 
distinctions of rank, or the honours of fame. But 
consider, I pray you, that these are transient as 
the morning cloud, and as the early dew. Life 
itself is a " vapour that appeareth for a little while, 
and then vanisheth away." So that, could you 
enjoy this world to the full measure of your de- 
sires, how like a dream, short and shadowy, must 
still be your happiness ! But this is not the worst 
view of your case. " No man can serve two mas- 
ters : for either he will hate the one, and love the 
other ; or else he will hold to the one, and despise 
the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon." 
" The friendship of the world is enmity with God : 
whosoever, therefore, will be a friend of the world, is 
the enemy of God." " For what fellowship hath 
righteousness with unrighteousness ? And what 
communion hath light with darkness ? And what 
concord hath Christ with Belial ?" Do not, I be 
seech you, continue to be so engrossed with the 
cares of this life, or so devoted to its sinful pleasures. 
Let me entreat you to remember and feel the 
momentous truth, that " we are all by nature child 
ren of wrath, having the understanding darkened* 
being alienated from the life of God. through the 



16 DISCOURSE I. 

ignorance that is in us, because of the blindness of 
our hearts ;" and that nothing but the sovereign 
grace of God can " deliver us from this power of 
darkness, and translate us into the kingdom of his 
dear Son." He alone, through the influence of his 
Spirit on our hearts, can bring us into fellowship 
with himself, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And 
unless we thus enjoy communion with God hereon 
earth, it is most certain we shall be for ever banish- 
ed from his presence in the future world. Unless 
we here become " fellow-citizens with the saints, 
and of the household of God," it is most certain we 
shall never be admitted to " the general assembly 
and church of the first-born in heaven." Unless 
here we are renewed in the spirit of our minds, and 
possess that supreme love to God and good- will to 
men which form the very essence of the Christian 
character, it is most certain — as certain as the 
declaration of God can make it — that we must take 
up our abode for ever in the prison of despair, " pre- 
pared for the devil and his angels." To that place, 
Benevolence, under all its attractive forms, will 
forever be a stranger. All will be selfishness and 
sin. The malignant passions which here harass 
our peace, and fill with bitterness the heart in 
which they reside, will there have full scope. Each 
will be the enemy of the other, and the torturer of 
his own breast. As you value, then, your own 
souls, — as you would escape, my brethren, from 
this society of wretchedness and woe, and secure 
your admittance into the paradise of God, among 



DISCOURSE I. 17 

the spirits of just men made perfect, where all is 
love, and peace, and joy, — now, while it is called 
to-day, now, by repentance toward God and faith 
in a crucified Redeemer, enter into fellowship with 
the Father and his Son Jesus Christ. 



■ 



DISCOURSE IL 



MATTHEW Xi. 30. 



For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. 

When our Saviour uttered these words he did not 
mean to say, that his disciples would be free from 
all trouble. He did not intend to propose to them 
a complete security against the cares and misfor- 
tunes of life. He did not wish to represent the 
religion which he taught, as requiring of its profes- 
sors no sacrifices, or as exposing them to no evils. 
Meek and forgiving as was his own character, he 
foresaw that this could not protect him against the 
malice of his foes, and that his heart, which was 
full of kindness to all around him, must soon pour 
forth its blood upon the cross. What else, then, 
could his friends expect ? " The disciple," said he, 
"is not above his master, nor the servant above his 
lord." " It is enough for the disciple that he be 
as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they 
have called the master of the house Beelzebub, 
how much more shall they call them of his house- 
hold ?" When he invites us to come unto him, 
therefore, it is to meliorate our condition indeed. 



DISCOURSE II. 19 

but not to render it perfectly happy in this life : 
— it is that we may cast off the yoke which the 
world imposes upon us, and wear his which is 
comparatively easy to be borne : — it is that we may 
enter upon a more delightful service than that of 
the slaves of sin ; yet a service not without its 
pains and trials :— it is that we may find rest unto 
our souls, but a rest not complete and uninterrupt- 
ed on this side the grave. The life of the Chris- 
tian must indeed be a life of self-denial ; and yet 
it is comparatively a happy life. His condition is 
not without its cares and sorrows, and yet it is the 
most desirable of all conditions. Behold a para- 
dox, my brethren ! which the world always makes 
matter of wonder, and sometimes of ridicule, but 
which is capable of being defended on the plainest 
principles of common sense. The force of these 
principles is admitted in every thing that relates to 
the daily concerns of life, and yet we are too apt to 
reject them when applied to the concerns of the 
soul. A man who wished to secure any earthly 
benefit would be thought a fool if he did not adopt 
them ; yet if adopted in order to obtain an eternal 
good, they are too often viewed as weak and child- 
ish. Let us consider them ; and in so doing, let 
not our consciences shrink from the duty of decid- 
ing, whether, while we recognize their force with 
regard to our temporal interests, we also apply them 
to the more important concerns of eternity. 

The first of these principles is, that no prudent 
man, who consults his own happiness, is ever so 



20 DISCOURSE II. 

much engrossed with present objects as to be re- 
gardless of the future. I speak now of the man of 
the tvorld — of one whose sole purpose is to make 
the most of human life, to secure the greatest pos- 
sible share of its pleasures, its riches, its honours, 
or its ease. Scrutinize his daily conduct ; follow 
him to his retirement .; enter into the chamber of 
his soul ; — what engrosses his thoughts ? Whither 
do his motives of conduct lead ? Where do his 
desires tend? To what are his plans directed ? 
When does he hope to see them accomplished ? 
To-morrow ! To-morrow he expects to " bear his 
blushing honours thick upon him." His coffers in 
a little while will be full ; his sources of enjoyment 
and of ease equal to all the wants of his soul. 
Urge him to abandon his toil for what is future 
and uncertain, and to think only of the present 
moment so as to make the most of it ; to eat, 
and drink, and be merry, for to-morrow he 
may die ; — talk to him of the disappointments of 
human life, and point to him thousands who have 
trod the same paths of diligence and carefulness in 
which he is walking, and have at last found them 
to end in complete failure ; he would call such 
language that of a madman ; and unless wallowing 
in the lowest depths of sensuality, seeking no grat- 
ifications but what are common to him with the 
brute, he would reply — that the voice of Wisdom 
bids him look to something beyond the present 
day, and that the smile of hope invites him to follow 
her towards some distant good. This regard to the 



DISCOURSE II. 21 

future governs all the conduct of life. Why should 
it not govern the concerns of the soul ? It is folly 
to bound our views by the setting sun : why not 
extend them beyond the grave ? It is prudent to 
make provision for old age : why should we neg- 
lect to provide for eternity ? — Now of all men the 
Christian is the only one who does this : his views 
are commensurate with his existence : his plans 
are laid for eternity : his to-morrow will never end. 
Whatever, then, may be his trials and his sorrows 
in this pilgrimage of weariness, he has continually 
the satisfaction of reflecting that his eternal good 
is secure. Now, a conviction of this nature is 
sufficient to counterbalance all possible human evil, 
and to beget within the soul a kind of happiness 
which partakes of the divine. It does thus coun- 
terbalance human evil ; for it may be seen shed- 
ding its solace in the obscurest abode of poverty, 
and in the darkest cell of the dungepn : it often 
glows serenely on the cheek of the dying, and has 
beamed with celestial lustre in the last look of the 
martyr at the stake. 

Again : it is a plain principle of common sense, 
that great sacrifices ought to be made for the attain- 
ment of any valuable distant good. Ask the con- 
queror how many wearisome days and sleepless 
nights his crown has cost him. Let the statesman 
tell us what have been the paths of toil and difficul- 
ty which have led him near the throne of majesty. 
What price has the orator paid for >he powers of 
his eloquence : or the painter for the skill of his 



22 DISCOURSE II. 

pencil ; or the poet for the magic of his song ? 
Count the daily cares and projects, and anxieties 
through which he has passed on whom wealth rolls 
in like a flood. In fine, ask the thousands whom 
you see busy around you, what is the meaning of 
all their bustle and industry, their rising early and 
sitting up late, their traversing of sea and land, 
their relinquishment of ease and comfort, and their 
incessant and indefatigable toil : they all aim at 
something future, and they hope to procure it by 
the sacrifice of a present good. This is their so- 
lace. This, in fact, is the sum of their actual 
happiness. Walk the rounds of life, and you will 
scarcely meet one who will not tell you that his 
present enjoyment consists in the hope of some dis- 
tant good, and that to obtain this he is not unwilling 
to make frequent and great sacrifices. 

This, my brethren, is the yoke of the world. 
None who a*e engaged in the pursuits of the world 
can lay it aside ; and it is grievous to be borne. He 
who sustains it toils for what must perish in the 
very using. He knows that, after a few short days, 
what has cost him so much labour and anxiety, so 
much self-denial, and so many sacrifices, must in- 
evitably, like himself, be laid in the grave of for- 
getfulness. Not a century will elapse before his 
very name may never be mentioned, except by the 
passing traveller who reads it on his tomb. 

But the Christian — for what does he toil ? For 
what does he take upon him the yoke of his Divine 
Master ? For what does he practice a self-denial } 



DISCOURSE II. 23 

which, it is not to be denied, is, at first, irksome 
to the native propensities of his heart, but which 
the grace of God renders more and more easy, and 
even delightful, and which is often actually less 
than that of the worldling himself? For what does 
the disciple of Christ bear this yoke ? For an inher- 
itance that is " incorruptible, undefiled, and that 
fadeth not away ;" for an admittance into the man- 
sions of everlasting rest ; for an imperishable treas- 
ure ; for unalloyed pleasures ; for an endless state 
of being, in which he will mingle with the spirits 
of the just made perfect, in which he will be ad- 
mitted to the presence of God — to the ineffable 
manifestations of his glory — to the sublime delights 
of his worship — to the solution of the mysteries of 
his providence — and, in fine, to an unceasing prog- 
ress in knowledge, in holiness, and in happiness. 
What are the petty cares and anxieties, or even the 
deepest sorrows of life, when compared with this 
weight of glory ? Shall the man of this world be 
deemed wise and prudent, because he relinquishes 
his present ease and quiet for the acquisition of 
some temporal good ; and shall the christian de- 
serve reproach, because he deems heaven itself 
worth some crosses and sacrifices, as he is passing 
to it through his short pilgrimage ? Shall the man 
of this world continually solace himself with the 
prospect of what he is soon to obtain, and shall this 
be thought, in the eyes of others, a most sober, and 
rational, and manly kind of happiness ; and shall 
the Christian not feel a far sweeter solace — shall 



24 DISCOURSE II. 

not his enjoyment be deemed the most rational and 
the most noble of all — when it is founded on the 
absolute promise of God, that through the tribula- 
tions of this life he shall pass to a state of complete 
and endless bliss ? 

Admitting, then, that he who sets at nought all 
the restraints of religion — who will not listen to the 
dictates of conscience — who resists every influence 
of the Spirit of God upon his soul — who rejects the 
only Saviour of sinners — who will not bear his 
yoke, deeming it a hard and unreasonable service ; 
— admitting that such an one accomplishes all his 
purposes of ambition or of pleasure, that he enjoys 
this world to the full, and that his grey hairs go 
down to the grave with mirth and gladness ; — yet 
there is an end of his bliss ; for the music of pleas- 
ure never breaks the silence of the tomb ; the 
voice of ambition never rouses its slumbering in- 
habitants ; the charms of wealth can no longer glit- 
ter before them. The world is left behind. The 
body moulders in the earth, and the spirit — the im- 
material, the immortal spirit — is gone — Whither? 
The unbeliever cannot tell : the philosopher can- 
not tell. A dark and gloomy cloud hangs over the 
unknown ocean of eternity ; and it is the dread of 
launching into this ocean which the man of this 
world cannot shake from his bosom. He is sur- 
rounded with ease and pleasure and riches and 
honour ; but his eye is continually directed to the 
future ; and this single thought of what may be 
hereafter often embitters the moment in which he 



DISCOURSE II. 25 

had anticipated the greatest delight. On the con- 
trary, the disciple of Jesus Christ, supposing him 
to suffer all the possible evils of life — poverty, dis- 
grace, reproach, sickness, imprisonment, or death, 
and death in its most horrid forms — counts these 
trials nothing. He is sure they will soon be ended. 
The grave will be to him the door of paradise. He 
knows in whom he has believed. His path is now 
beset with thorns ; his sky is overshadowed with 
clouds ; the tempest is beating upon his head : but 
now and then his heart is gladdened while his eye 
catches a few beams of that sunshine which will 
hereafter continually cheer his course through a 
day of bright and eternal splendor. 

Behold, my brethren, the immense difference 
between the man of this world and the Christian. 
Weigh well the comparison which has been made 
between them : it is a comparison not founded on 
a mere fiction. It is not a philosophical hypo- 
thesis which is yet to be proved. It rests on two 
obvious principles of common sense, which a man 
would not dare to reject in the ordinary concerns 
of life, lest he should be deemed as simple as a 
child, or as complete a sensualist as the very 
brutes who graze around him. These principles 
are, that it is the part of prudence not to be so 
much engrossed with present objects, as to be 
regardless of the future ; and that it is our duty to 
make proportionate, and in some cases therefore 
great, sacrifices for the attainment of distant good. 
— In applying these principles 1 have not done 

4 



26 DISCOURSE II. 

justice to the Christian's cause. 1 have supposed 
it possible for the man of the worfd to enjoy this 
life to the full, and I have spoken of the disciple 
of Christ, as one, like his Divine Master, " despised 
and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and ac- 
quainted with grief ;" as having every earthly com- 
fort shorn from his side, and nothing left him but 
trust iri God, the approbation of his own conscience, 
that internal peace which cometh down from the 
Source of all good, and that hope of heaven which 
is as an anchor to his soul both sure and stedfast 
1 might have drawn a very different picture, and a 
far juster one. The man of the world might have 
been represented as pursuing shadows which elude 
his grasp, as catching at splendid bubbles which 
immediately melt in air. Something might have 
been said of the wearisomeness which soon in- 
trudes itself at the board of festivity > of the disgust 
which often enters the haunts of pleasure ; of the 
satiety which is the inseparable companion of 
sensuality ; of the toil and anxiety, the jealousies 
and envyings, the disappointments and defeats of 
ambition ; of the emptiness of honour, and of the 
cares of wealth. On the other hand, the Christian 
might have been described as not called to suffer 
the same wretchedness as did the primitive disci- 
ple of Christ. It might have been shewn, that 
bound as he is, not to shrink from any evil which 
men may inflict upon him, on account of the cause 
which he has espoused — nor to refuse making any 
sacrifice of earthly good for the sake of that Saviour 



DISCOURSE II. 27 

in whom he trusts — still he is permitted (so much 
gentler are the dispensations of God toward his 
church than they have formerly been) to use this 
world if he do not abuse it, and even to possess its 
wealth and its honours, if he do but devote them 
to the service of God. 

And is it not reasonable, then, my brethren, to 
put confidence in the words of Jesus Christ, when 
he invites us to come unto him that we may find 
rest unto our souls ? Shall we not consent to bear 
his yoke without murmuring, when he so truly 
assures us that it is easy and his burden light ? 
Surely, the requisitions of the Gospel, the duties 
and the trials of a Christian, are not well under- 
stood, or they would not so often be rejected.-— 
It is admitted by all, that unalloyed happiness is 
not the lot of man. Every eye is directed to 
something future : every heart beats with the 
hope of what it may yet enjoy. The world is 
tried by its thousand votaries, in their thousand 
different paths, and all confess that it continues to 
impose upon them. In the mean while, life is 
wasting away ; the roses are withering with which 
the man of pleasure has loved to crown himself; 
the honours are fading which have blushed in such 
thick abundance upon the son of ambition ; the 
gold is soon to be scattered, he knows not where, 
that now fill the coffers of the rich man. Even 
the charms of philosophy and literature fade from 
the eye which has long feasted upon them. The 
dearest of all earthly good — social and domestic 



28 DISCOURSE Ilr 

love — must soon have its golden cord broken ; bo- 
som friends must be torn asunder and family circles 
destroyed ; and man, stripped of all which can 
now afford him any delight, must — inevitably must, 
in a few fleeting years — descend to the tomb. Is 
this world, then, worth possessing, without some 
hope of a future ? And what hope of a future can 
we have except that which is founded on the reve- 
lation God has given us in the Gospel of his Son ? 
And when this Gospel invites us to a Saviour, 
whose yoke, even in this life, is comparatively easy 
and his burden light, how much is it the part of 
wisdom to bear this yoke ! Sacrifices, indeed, the 
Christian must make, and some of these sacrifices 
will cost him much. He must offer continually 
the sacrifice of a broken heart and of a contrite 
spirit at the remembrance of his sins. And this 
yoke at first is galling to his pride. He must sacri- 
fice all reliance upon his own merits for acceptance 
with God. He must hope, by faith alone in Jesus 
Christ, to secure the pardon of his guilt, the reno- 
vation of his heart, and a preparation for heaven. 
And this yoke presses hard upon his self-righteous- 
ness. But soon these very sacrifices become de- 
lightful. Humility and Meekness and Faith, which 
at first, when seen through the mists of prejudice, 
appeared so hideous and disgusting, are found 
upon a nearer approach to be the daughters of 
Peace, and to shed around the head of him whom 
they attend a heaven-born calm and a serene 
dignity of which the sons of Pride know nothing. 



DISCOURSE II. 29 

His self-denial, too, every day becomes easier to 
the Christian. That sneer which once kindled the 
glow of resentment on his cheek he learns to bear 
with a meek and a quiet spirit, while he pities the 
prejudice from which it sprung. That reluctance 
to disclose his principles before the world, which 
once made him almost ashamed of his Saviour, 
has given place to a manly yet modest avowal of 
them. The world, to which, like others, he once 
clung with so fond a grasp, has lost much of its 
charms : and he cheerfully abandons it when he 
reflects what a better portion he has beyond the 
skies. Thus the yoke of Christ is not only easier 
than that of the world, even under circumstances 
the most unfavourable, so to speak, for the Chris- 
tian ; but this very yoke becomes easier and easier 
to be borne, so as to be at last not the mark of toil 
and servitude, but the badge of peace and triumph. 
May it always, my brethren, prove such to each one 
of us ! May the Spirit of grace incline us cheerfully 
to sustain it in this life ! And may the same Spirit, 
through the merits and intercession of Jesus Christ, 
conduct us all at length to that world of entire rest 
where no more sacrifices will be required of us, 
where no more self-denial will be necessary, but 
where every want of the soul will be supplied and 
all iis wishes gratified ! 



DISCOURSE III. 



MATTHEW Xl. 30. 



For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. 

The life of a real Christian is one of continual 
self-denial. He has to carry on an incessant and 
difficult contest within his own breast ; to subdue 
the native propensities of his heart ; to struggle 
against the force of habit ; to bring all the powers 
of his body and all the affections of his soul into 
subjection to the precepts of the Gospel ; to resist 
the allurements of temptation ; to withstand the 
seductions of pleasure, of riches, and of honour : 
to watch against the wiles of Satan ; to meet, if 
need be, with an undaunted heroism, ridicule and 
reproach, infamy and death ; in fine, always to 
prove himself a faithful soldier of the Cross, and 
not to quit the field of danger, and sometimes of 
blood, till he come off a triumphant conqueror, 
through the strength of the great Captain of his 
salvation. How, then, demands the world, can 
the yoke of Christ be easy, and his burden light ? 
Does it cost nothing to engage in so hard a service r 
Is it to find ease that you call upon us to rush 



DISCOURSE lit. 31 

into such an unprovoked and useless contest ? Is 
it wise to abandon our present pursuits and pleas- 
ures for so distant a good, and for one which 
demands so many sacrifices ? Why not enjoy life 
while it lasts ? Why sadden the few days we have 
to spend in this world with gloomy thoughts about 
the future ? Why check, by the mournful restraints 
of Religion, the flow of delight with which we are 
surrounded, and which bears us so gently down 
the stream of life ? When the storm arrives, of 
which we now see no prospect, we will prepare for 
it. When our bark launches upon that vast ocean 
of eternity which we believe to be far distant, we 
hope to be ready to encounter all its dangers. 
At present, we enjoy too much the cheerfulness of 
our sunshine, to suffer shadows of superstitious 
melancholy to be thrown across our path. The 
cup of delight which we drink is so pleasant, that 
we cannot permit Conscience to mingle in it her 
wormwood and gall. 

Such, my hearers, is the language of the world 
when it is called upon to bear the yoke of Jesus 
Christ; to submit to those wholesome restraints 
which he imposes upon us, not only as the test of 
our fidelity, but as the truest sources of our real 
comfort in this life, and our happiness in the future. 
But this language of the world is false in its prin- 
ciples^ and ruinous in its consequences. — It is found- 
ed on erroneous views of what the world promises, 
and what the Gospel requires ; and therefore it is 
false in its principles. If listened to, it will afford 



OZ DISCOURSE III. 

no substantial benefit in this life, and it must lead 
to a dreadful result in the future ; and therefore 
it is ruinous in its consequences. 

I attempted, in some measure, while discoursing 
from the words of my text, the last Sabbath, to 
illustrate these truths, and to shew that, on two 
acknowledged principles of common sense, the 
yoke of Christ is indeed easy, when compared with 
that of the world. These principles are recog- 
nized and adopted, by every man of ordinary 
reflection, in the daily concerns of life ; and to 
depart from them would be considered as down- 
right presumption and folly. They are the follow- 
ing : That no prudent man, who consults his own 
happiness, is ever so much engrossed with pres- 
ent objects as to be regardless of the future ; and 
that great sacrifices ought to be made for the attain- 
ment of any valuable distant good. In applying 
these principles, I endeavoured to prove, that the 
comparison between the Christian and the man 
of the world is altogether in favour of the former, 
although he should be called to endure the greatest 
privations and misfortunes of life, while the latter 
is in possession of all its earthly pleasures. For 
although the worldling may revel in delight, hav- 
ing his most sanguine prospects realized, and his 
most unbounded wishes gratified ; yet the constant 
conviction that the grave must put an end to all 
this gladness, and that there may be such an here- 
after as the Gospel unfolds to us, in which an 
eternal distinction will be made between those 



DISCOURSE III. S3 

who receive Christ as their Saviour, and those who 
do not : I say, these saddening thoughts, which 
nothing but absolute stupidity can banish from the 
mind, will often intrude themselves, and spoil, as 
with the touch of death, the dearest delights of the 
man of this world. His enjoyments, too, even 
when he can lull all forebodings about the future, 
are not of the most noble kind They relate to the 
gratifications of sense, to the acquisition of wealth, 
to the possession of glory, to the pursuits of litera- 
ture, to the pleasures of taste ; and sometimes, for 
I would not disguise the truth, to the alleviation of 
wretchedness, and the diffusion of knowledge and 
comfort among his fellow-men. But observe, my 
brethren, all these objects, in themselves consider- 
ed, relate only to this life : they extend not beyond 
the grave. And is the immaterial, the immortal 
spirit, which animates these frail bodies of ours — 
which is continually dissatisfied with the present, 
and always engaged about the future — which is 
ever following the beck of Hope toward some dis- 
tant good ; — is it to find its most exalted happiness 
in any thing beneath the sun ? Is it to take a part 
in the fleeting concerns of this life, except as a mere 
pilgrim who is on his march to a better country ? 
Is it not to have its views enlarged, and its plans 
ennobled, and its affections elevated, and its hopes 
brightened, by connecting all that is here below 
with all that is beyond the skies ? Ought it not to 
be thus mindful of its eternal destiny, and to walk 
the rounds of life, as some heaven-descended mes- 



34 DISCOURSE III. 

senger, for the sake of distributing the mercies of 
God to the bodies of men, and his grace to their 
souls ; but having its eye always fixed on its celes- 
tial home, remembering that there alone it can find 
pure and perpetual bliss ? This kind of happiness, 
so divine in its source and so ennobling in its effects, 
is a stranger to the breast of the mere man of this 
world ; for without revelation, and the aid of that 
grace which it reveals, he cannot shape his con- 
duct aright with regard to the future world. I speak 
with boldness: — of futurity, the philosopher and 
the unbeliever know nothing definite: they can 
only guess at what it may. be. 

Who is that infinite and incomprehensible Spirit, 
that occupies all space — that exists through all 
eternity — that wields the sceptre of universal em- 
pire — that is too omniscient ever to be eluded, too 
pure ever to be reconciled to sin, and too powerful 
ever to be mocked with impunity ? How shall we, 
who are sinners, (our own consciences bear testi- 
mony against us — it is in vain to resist the accusa- 
tion) ; how shall we propitiate the favour of this 
holy Intelligence ? Shall we hope in his unbound- 
ed goodness ? Is his mercy unlimited ? Will he 
never inflict pain upon the souls he has created ? 
He is almighty ; and will he communicate all the 
happiness in his power ; and will it be safe, then, to 
trust to this his unmixed benevolence ? Ah ! it may 
be unsafe to do this. It may be necessary, for the 
wise and holy purposes of the government of God, 
to make distinctions between the creatures he has 



DISCOURSE III. 35 

formed, to separate between the righteous and the 
wicked, and to inflict pain upon those who depart 
from the strictest requisitions of his laws. Perhaps 
this may be so. Perhaps that Being, who sees it 
necessary to impose suffering upon his creatures in 
this life, may also afflict them in the next. How 
is it compatible with the notions we long to enter- 
tain of that unbounded and unmixed goodness of 
his, on which we hope to rely for our eternal safety, 
that He, whose word could make it otherwise, 
permits the babe to languish, to suffer the most 
excruciating torture, to die in its mother's arms ? 
Why do we all endure so much pain and anxiety 
©f body and mind ? And why must we all pass 
through the terrific agonies of the hour of dissolu- 
tion ? God might have prevented all these evils : 
He has seen fit not to do it. It has been necessary, 
for the purposes of his government, to suffer pain 
to exist in the world. The fact is every day before 
our eyes. We may, therefore, be wretched in the 
future world ; for it may be necessary, for the pur- 
poses of his government, that pain should exist 
there also. 

On these momentous points, so interesting to 
every man who aspires to immortality, who learns 
by a little experience the vanity of the world, and 
who pants for some unknown good to satisfy the 
desires of his soul ; on these points, the unbeliever 
must be content to remain in entire ignorance. He 
may doubt, if he pleases, the truth of those doc- 
trines which afford to the Christian so much confi 



36 



DISCOURSE 111, 



dence and hope ; but this does not help his own 
ease. Though surrounded with all worldly delights, 
he must continue to want that exalted kind of 
happiness which consists in acting like an heir of 
immortality and in making this life subservient to a 
future state of being. In that state the Christian 
believes all will be adapted to fill the capacities of 
his spirit, freed from the shackles of the body and 
the dominion of sin, delivered from the ever-chang- 
ing scenes of a short and uneasy life, and assimilated 
to the very character of that Eternal Spirit, whose 
essence is holiness and happiness. Let the yoke of 
Christ, then, be ever so heavy, it is light when com- 
pared with that of the world : for amid all his 
troubles and disappointments, the Christian has 
within his breast a principle of hope, with regard to 
his future destiny, which, if he suffer it not to be 
weakened by the temptations that surround him, or 
by the remaining corruption of his own heart, bears 
him up triumphantly through all the trials he has 
to encounter, and animates him continually with 
the prospect of that crown of glory which he is soon 
to obtain. 

From all that has been said in this and the form- 
er discourse, I cannot but think it has been made 
evident, that the words of our Saviour, contained 
in the text, when properly understood and applied, 
are worthy of our entire belief and acceptance ; 
and that it is not only our bounden duty, but our 
highest privilege, to resort unto him, and find rest 
unto our souls. He promises us the most unspeak- 



DISCOURSE III. 37 

able advantages, if we will truly repent of all our 
offences against God, and rely, with an unshaken 
faith, on his merits alone, for pardon and peace. 
He offers to us the absolute remission of all our 
sins ; the influences of the Holy Spirit of truth and 
grace to enlighten our minds and purify our hearts ; 
a deliverance from their remaining corrupt propen- 
sities ; a protection against the temptations of the 
world ; a security from the seduction of its smiles ; 
a victory over its frowns ; a support under its tri- 
als ; a serenity amidst its injuries ; a cheerfulness 
during its disappointments ; and a temperate use 
of all its innocent enjoyments. He offers us the 
calm of a quiet conscience, and a peace of mind 
that passeth understanding ; nay, in his gift is the 
most sublime delight to which a created intelligence 
can dare to aspire — communion with God himself: 
for, much as the sceptic may doubt it, there is 
sometimes shed over the soul of the true disciple of 
Jesus Christ such a lively conception of the pre- 
sence and love of God, such an admiration of his 
excellence, such a resignation to his will, such a 
gratitude for his goodness, and such an anticipation 
of being soon admitted to the ineffable display of 
his glory, that the soul almost forgets that it is 
inhabiting its tabernacle of clay, and seems already 
to have taken its flight to paradise. My brethren, 
I speak not the language of a wild enthusiasm, but 
that of sober Christian philosophy. I state a fact, 
which, like all other facts, is liable to have the 
force of its evidence weakened by the intemperate 



38 DISCOURSE III. 

zeal of fanaticism, or by the incoherent ravings of 
mysticism, or by the cunning pretensions of hypoc- 
risy, or even by the misguided ardour of an honest 
though mistaken ignorance ; but yet a fact, the 
truth of which is attested by thousands of sober 
and discreet men — men of philosophy, of science, of 
literature, of political sagacity and of military wis- 
dom — men whose testimony on every other subject 
would be received without the least scruple or 
hesitation. 

I say, then, this very influence of the Spirit of 
God is offered to all who resort unto Jesus Christ, 
in order to purify and to elevate their affections, and 
to shed serenitv on the soul. He offers also to all 

■r 

who trust in him, to stand by them with the suc- 
cours of his grace, in an hour which has appalled 
the stoutest hearts — an hour when the strongest arm 
is palsied, and the proudest eye droops — an hour in 
which the visions of worldly glory sink into eternal 
darkness, the charms of pleasure vanish into noth- 
ingness, the delights of wealth and the acquisitions 
of industry crumble into insignificance around their 
very possessor — an hour in which even the kindest 
offices of friendship, and the sweetest solaces of 
domestic love, are unavailing — an hour in which 
the spirit trembles on the verge of an unknown 
existence, and in which its hopes and fears, aban- 
doning the petty concerns which have so long agi- 
tated them, become absorbed in the momentous 
realities of its approaching condition. Then is the 
moment to compare the yoke of Christ with thai 



DISCOURSE III. 39 

of the world, and to say whether it is not worth 
some sacrifices to obtain a victory over the king of 
terrors, and to have the beams of a divine serenity 
illuminating the darkness of the valley of the shad- 
ow of death. 

Shall I carry this comparison any farther ? Shall 
I lead you to watch the last look, and to catch the 
last accents, of the unbeliever ? His brow, perhaps, 
still preserves its firmness, and his voice its compos- 
ure : he has summoned up all the resources of his 
philosophy, and he is ready to die with gaiety and 
an heroical pride. Not a sigh escapes him, no 
self reproach for any action of his past life, no ap- 
prehension of the future state upon which he is just 
entering. But in spite of all this, occasional doubts 
flit across his mind, and he can find nothing certain 
on which to establish an unshaken confidence in 
the approbation of that awful Being before whom 
he is soon to appear. No visions of hope pass before 
his eyes, and at the best he has to confess that he is 
about to launch upon an ocean which is shrouded 
in the deepest obscurity and darkness. — But there 
are few who reach this elevation of stoical apathy. 
Thousands there are, who though bold in scepti 
cism in the days of health and pleasure, have shrunk 
from the trial of the last hour, and have spent its 
fleeting moments in bewailing the rashness that has 
led them to meet it unprepared. But the instance 
cannot be produced, in which the true disciple of 
Jesus Christ, when brought to the test of his dying 
hour, has ever abandoned the principles of the 



40 DISCOURSE in* 

Gospel, or exchanged the hope of religion for any 
other. 

Shall I carry this comparison still farther ? Shall I 
venture to lift the veil which separates eternity 
from our view ? No. It is enough for my pres- 
ent purpose to have contrasted the yoke of Jesus 
Christ with that of the world, in reference to this 
life alone. I will not enter upon the awful subject 
of the future destiny of the righteous and the wicked. 
Revelation discloses enough, however, upon this 
topic, to excite our liveliest hopes and fears. Christ 
has declared in such explicit terms, what will be 
the fate of those who reject him, that it is sufficient 
to read what he has spoken, without endeavouring 
to enhance its momentous import by any images of 
terror. Let His declarations, to which we must give 
an important and surely alarming significance or 
else suppose that he used words without a meaning 
— let his declarations be soberly regarded, and in 
their light let his yoke be compared with that of 
the world. I need not say which will be deemed, 
by the judgment of prudence, the easiest to be 
borne. In prosperity, then, or in adversity, in sick- 
ness or in health, in life or in death, with regard 
to time or eternity, the world deserves to be held 
low in our estimation, when compared to the ser- 
vice of Jesus Christ ; and the yoke which he calls 
upon us to sustain ought to be deemed easy, and 
his burden light. Let those who profess to believe 
his doctrines, and to tread in his steps, be mindful 
of these truths. Let them cultivate the liveliest 



DISCOURSE III* 41 

affections of gratitude to that Saviour who has re~ 
deemed them from the thraldom of the world ; and 
let them bear the yoke which he may see fit to im 
pose upon them without a murmur or a complaint, 
Let them be careful, too, not to be again " entan- 
gled with the yoke of bondage ;" nor to suffer that 
world to gain the ascendency over them which 
they are bound to conquer, with all its trials and 
temptations, by faith in him who himself gained 
over it a complete victory. Let those, too, who 
have suffered their affections to be*engrossed with 
the cares and business, the pursuits and pleasures 
of this life, be induced to ponder for a moment on 
the imprudence of their choice. Let them try their 
rejection of Jesus Christ, and their dislike to his 
service, by the same principles of prudence which 
guide their daily concerns. Let them be careful 
to inquire how wise or how safe it is to procrasti- 
nate their preparation for eternity, because it is at 
a little distance ; to be absorbed in pursuits which 
the grave must end forever ; and to decline placing 
an entire confidence in Jesus Christ, as the only 
Saviour of men, because the repentance and faith 
which he demands are irksome duties, and his 
service is attended with' many and great sacrifices. 
In such momentous concerns, may the Spirit of 
Truth so enlighten our minds and affect our hearts, 
that our choice may be the choice of wisdom ; and 
that, after having meekly borne the yoke of Christ 
through the wilderness of this world, we may be 
admitted to the Canaan of eternal rest ! Amen. 

6 



DISCOURSE IV. 



I CORINTHIANS xi. 29. 

For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth 
and drinketh ^damnation to himself r not discerning 
the Lord's body. 

This solemn warning was originally addressed to 
the church at Corinth. The members of that church 
had fallen into many gross errors and sins. Beguil- 
ed by false teachers, they perverted, and in some 
cases almost denied, several plain and important 
doctrines of the Cross. Seduced by the example 
of many in this rich, populous, and very corrupt 
city, they were guilty of conduct unworthy, in the 
last degree, of those who professed to be the disci- 
ples of Jesus Christ. This dreadful degeneracy 
discovered itself even in their religious exercises : 
and at the most solemn of all these exercises — at 
one which, from its very nature, was calculated to 
inspire them with reverence and awe, with purity 
and peace, with kindness and charity — a scene was 
often exhibited of discord, intemperance, and con- 
fusion. Seated round the very table of the Lord, 
holding in their hands the mystical symbols of his 



DISCOURSE IV. 43 

body broken and his blood shed for their sins, 
professing their attachment to his cause, and invo- 
king his protection and blessing, they shuddered 
not at the grossest profanation of this sublime and 
sacred ordinance. Their guilt called down upon 
them the anger of God ; who withdrew from them 
the sanctifying influences of his Holy Spirit, and 
left them, at least for a season, in a state of awful 
and dangerous declension. But a more open and 
visible mark of his displeasure, was exhibited in 
the infliction upon them of severe temporal calam- 
ity. A languishing disease threw many of them 
on the couch of suffering ; and not a few were 
called, by death, to appear before the judgment- 
seat of Heaven. 

How deplorable was their condition ! Sinning 
against God with a high hand, and suffering his 
severest rebuke ! Well might Paul tremble for 
their spiritual welfare : well might he summon up 
all the energy of his soul, and all the ardour of his 
affection, to reclaim and reform them : well might 
he urge them, by the terrors of the Lord, to repent 
and live ; and considering, as not the least of their 
crimes, their dreadful profanation of the Lord's 
Supper, well might he say, in the strong language 
of the text, " For he that eateth and drinketh 
unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to him- 
self, not discerning the Lord's body." 

This solemn warning, my brethren, which seems to 
have had a very salutary effect upon the Corinthian 
Christians, is of no less force and use in all the ages 



44 DISCOURSE IV. 

of the church. Let us then endeavour so to under- 
stand its true import, and so to apply it to our own 
consciences, that, under the blessing of God, it may 
awaken within us a spirit of serious self-examina- 
tion, of sincere penitence for sin, and of purer holi- 
ness, that thus we may be prepared for all the duties 
and services which we owe to our Divine Master. 
For this purpose let us consider, first the nature of 
the offence against which the text cautions us — " he 
that eateth and drinketh unworthily ;" and, second- 
ly, the awful consequences of this offence — " eat- 
eth and drinketh damnation to himself." 

I. If, in the first place, we consider what it is to 
partake of the Lord's Supper unworthily, it may 
be proper very briefly to mention some of those 
imperfections or sins, under which a person may 
labour, and yet not be disqualified for a participation 
of the Lord's Supper. 

First, then, Occasional doubts and fears with 
regard to one's spiritual state are not inconsistent 
with a worthy approach to the table of the Lord. 
I will not say, that such doubts and fears do not 
always result from the wickedness of the human 
heart ; from a neglect of those means which God 
has put within the reach of all, for the confirmation 
of their faith and the establishment of an unwa- 
vering hope. They who seldom look into the 
Oracles of Truth, and who are seldom found in the 
closet of prayer, must expect to become the prey 
of the tempter, and to have their breasts often 



DISCOURSE IV. 45 

harassed with doubt, or sometimes tortured with 
despair. There is certainly great guilt attached to 
such a state. It calls for the sighs and tears of pen- 
itence ; for the fervent supplication, at the Throne 
of Grace, of a broken and contrite heart ; for new 
and vigorous attempts after an unclouded assurance 
of being truly born of God ; but, if accompanied 
with this penitence and prayer and resolution, it 
does not exclude from the table of the Lord. Oth- 
erwise, how many weak souls must be deprived of 
their spiritual nourishment ; nay, how many emi- 
nent saints, in their seasons of darkness, must be 
cutoff from the enjoyment of an ordinance which 
is often made the means, under God, of dispelling 
the gloom of spiritual despondency, and of shedding 
upon the Christian's path a light, which, beaming 
upon him from Heaven, shews him, that thither his 
footsteps, though of late so faint and weary, are still 
tending ! 

Secondly, Imperfect views of the doctrines of 
religion are not inconsistent with a worthy participa- 
tion of the Lord's Supper. At the commencement 
of the third chapter of this very Epistle from which 
our text is taken, Saint Paul, addressing the Corin- 
thians, says ; " And I, brethren, could not speak 
unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even 
as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, 
and not with meat ; for hitherto ye were not able to 
bear it, neither yet now are ye able." The Corin- 
thian converts, then, had not advanced beyond the 
first principles of the oracles of God : yet, although 



46 DISCOURSE IVo 

thus ignorant, they were reckoned among the saints, 
and enjoyed communion with the church of God, 
It is not their ignorance, therefore, which the Apos- 
tle makes the ground of his complaint against them, 
and of the warning contained in the text ; but their 
sinning against God, by the neglect or abuse of the 
light, however small, already in their possession. 
Ignorance, however, if it result from the neglect of 
those means of instruction which God has afforded 
us, is most highly criminal ; and, if obstinately 
persisted in, without repentance and without reform- 
ation, renders a man, without doubt, an unworthy 
partaker of the Supper of the Lord. 

Thirdly, Remains of sin in the heart are not 
inconsistent with a worthy approach to the Lord's 
table. On this head, few words are necessary, if 
we recal to mind the language of the beloved disci- 
ple : — " If we say, that we have no sin, we deceive 
ourselves, and the truth is not in us ;"-- -words ap- 
proved by the confession of every Christian in this 
life, however great may be the degree of his attain- 
ment in holiness. Perfection lies not on this side 
the grave. The best men have many internal 
corruptions to struggle with, from which nothing 
but death will free them : and how many of those 
corruptious may lurk in the heart which has been 
touched by Divine Grace, it is impossible for man 
to determine. The remains of sin, therefore, in the 
breast of him who sincerely grieves for its past influ- 
ence, and faithfully prays and strives against its 
future dominion over him, are no obstacle to his 
worthily partaking of the Lord's Supper. 



DISCOURSE IV. 4? 

I proceed now to consider, more directly, in what 
an unworthy participation of the Lord's Supper 
consists. 

First, It consists in using this ordinance with an 
entire ignorance of its proper spirit and meaning. 
Its grand design is to recal to our remembrance the 
sufferings, and death of our Saviour, as a propitia 
tory sacrifice for the sins of the world. The bread 
broken, and the wine poured out, are symbols very 
significant of his body broken, and his blood shed, 
for our redemption from the curse of the law. In- 
deed, the celebration of this ordinance speaks a 
language most impressive and affecting — a lan- 
guage which ought to confound and overwhelm 
those who deny the doctrine of the propitiatory 
atonement of Christ, and who rely upon their own 
merits for acceptance with God. What shall we 
say to declarations like the following ? " Christ our 
Passover is sacrificed for us" — u Christ hath loved 
us, and given himself for us, an offering and a sac- 
rifice to God, for a sweet smelling savour" — " He 
died for our sins" — " In whom we have redemption, 
through his blood, the forgiveness of sins" — " The 
blood of Christ cleanseth us from all sin." Thus 
speaks the church, whenever in faith she? draws nigh 
to the table of her Lord. And what, on the other 
hand, says her spiritual Head ? " Take, eat ; this 
is my body, which is broken for you. This do in 
remembrance of me. This is my blood of the 
New Testament, which is shed for you and for 
many for the remission of sins. Drink ye all of it 



48 DISCOURSE IV. 

This do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance 
of me." 

With such plain declarations sounding in his ears, 
he who can approach and receive the testimonials 
of our Saviour's dying love, entirely ignorant of 
their true spirit and meaning, or, as is sometimes 
the case, wilfully perverting them — such an one, 1 
say, assuredly eateth and drinketh unworthily, not 
discerning the Lord's body. 

Secondly, He also eateth and drinketh unworthily, 
who approaches this sacred ordinance with an 
impenitent or unforgiving spirit. The very celebra- 
tion of this ordinance is a confession of sin : for it 
shews forth the Lord's death ; and all who engage 
in it do by their conduct declare, that their past 
transgressions have exposed them to the just dis- 
pleasure of God, and that in Christ alone they have 
v ' redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of 
sins, according to the riches of his grace.". 

Now, what can be thought of the piety, nay, 
even of the sincerity, of that man who dares to make 
this confession of his guilt, and yet repents not of 
all his transgressions ? He touches with his unhal- 
lowed hand the sacred symbols of the Lord's death ; 
he receives them into his polluted lips ; he makes 
an outward show of sorrow and contrition of heart 
for all his past offences ; yet, he cherishes in his 
breast some secret and easily besetting sin ; makes 
a compromise with the inward compunctions of 
conscience, or entirely silences them ; and raises 
not even a si°'h to God for deliverance from this 



DISCOURSE IV. 49 

miserable and dangerous bondage. As he repents 
not of his own trespasses, neither does he forgive 
those of his fellow-men. He indulges some lurking 
hatred — some coldness towards a friend, or some 
enmity to a rival — while he professes to cast himself 
upon the mere mercy of God, through Jesus Christ. 
What impiety ! what insincerity ! Surely such an 
one eateth and drinketh unworthily, not discerning 
the Lord's body. 

Thirdly, he also eateth and drinketh unworthily, 
who approaches this ordinance without a cordial 
faith in Christ. If this ordinance significantly 
shadows forth the sufferings and death of Christ ; 
if the great Master of assemblies invites all to this 
feast of love with the solemn declaration, " This is 
my body, which is broken for you — This is my 
blood, which is shed for you and for many, for the 
remission of sins ;" if those who surround the table 
of their dying Lord do, by this act, publicly and 
solemnly profess themselves to be his disciples ; if 
they thus express their entire reliance upon his 
merits alone for acceptance with God ; if they 
thus renew their covenant with the Great Head of 
the church, and pledge themselves more faithfully 
in future to espouse his cause, and obey his pre- 
cepts : if such be the true import of this sacred 
transaction, then who can take a part in it without 
a cordial faith in Jesus Christ, and yet be guiltless ? 
Who that cherishes not some humble hope of his 
acceptance in the beloved, although this hope may 
be clouded with occasional doubts and fears ; who 

7 



50 DISCOURSE IV. 

that relies at all on his own merits, tor the pardon 
ing mercy of God, and trusts not, entirely and 
without reserve, to the all-sufficient righteousness 
of Christ ; who that cannot say with some good 
degree of sincerity, " Lord, in thee I believe, help 
thou mine unbelief :" who that is thus faithless can 
eat the Gospel passover, and not be guilty of the 
body and blood of the Lord ? 

II. Having 1 hus attempted to ascertain the nature 
of the offence against which we are cautioned in 
the text, let us, in the second place, consider what 
will be the awful consequence of this offence : 
" For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eat- 
eth and drinketh damnation to himself." 

Here it is necessary to observe, that the word in 
the original Greek, which our translators have ren- 
dered " damnation," does not in itself convey the 
idea of future and eternal punishment. It means 
punishment simply, or some judgment of God inflict- 
ed upon an offender, leaving it still indeterminate, 
whether the punishment is to take place in this 
life or in the next. The true import of this word, 
then, must always be determined by attending to 
the circumstances under which it is used. And 
what were the circumstances under which Paul 
addressed the Corinthian Christians? They had 
most grossly profaned the celebration of the Lord's 
Supper. Their wickedness had drawn down upon 
them the judgments of God. He had taken from 
them the influences of his sanctifying Spirit. He 



DISCOURSE IV. 51 

had afflicted them with disease and death. This 
was the damnation, or punishment, which they 
were actually suffering, when Paul wrote to 
them. He wished to shew them the connexion 
between the punishment and their guilt, and to 
make thern tremble lest a perseverance in wick- 
edness should expose them to the more severe and 
awful rebukes of Heaven. Hence he writes — " For 
he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth 
and drinketh damnation (or punishment) to him- 
self, not discerning the Lord's body. For this 
cause, many are weak and sickly among you, 
and many sleep" (or die). As if he had said — 
" Your guilt, O Corinthians ! in the profanation of 
the Lord's Supper, is the cause of your suffering. 
Be persuaded, by the terrors of the Lord, to return 
unto him with sincere and hearty repentance, lest 
he chastise you with more terrible temporal judg- 
ments ; lest he withdraw from you, for ever, the 
restraint of his grace, and thus abandon you to the 
necessary and just consequences of your guilt, 
eternal and irremediable destruction." 

From all this we may gather, that an unworthy 
participation of the Lord's Supper does not, like 
the unpardonable sin against the Holy Ghost, inev- 
itably expose men to eternal perdition. If speedily 
and sincerely repented of — if washed out by the 
application of faith at the Throne of Grace, through 
the atoning blood of Christ — it will be forgiven. 
Still it is a crime of the deepest dye ; and he who 
commits it will call down upon himself the ange? 



52 DISCOURSE IV. 

of an offended God. Such was its character and 
consequences among the Corinthian Christians, and 
such they will always be. He that eateth and 
drinketh unworthily at the Lord's Supper, and per- 
sisted in his guilt, may not, perhaps, suffer any 
immediate temporal calamity. He may be " in 
great power, spreading himself like a green bay 
tree," and flourishing in the sunshine of worldly 
prosperity. But his punishment is not the less 
awful, because it is hid from the human eye. He 
is imitating him who supped with his Lord, and then 
treacherously betrayed him. He is hardening his 
own heart by the vilest insincerity. He is destroying 
the efficacy upon his soul of one of the most instruct- 
ive, and soothing, and animating ordinances of 
religion. He is virtually denying Christ, while he 
professes to serve him ; and by thus crucifying the 
Son of God afresh, and putting him to an open 
shame, he is in constant hazard of falling into that 
state from which it is impossible to be renewed 
again unto repentance. 

Thus it appears that an unworthy participation 
of the Lord's Supper, if it do not at first expose men 
to inevitable and eternal perdition, will, if persisted 
in, hasten on, and be finally followed by, this awful 
consequence. Our text, therefore, although it ought 
not, when rightly understood, to fill the weak and 
timid, yet believing, disciple of Christ, with need- 
less scruple and alarm, still, on the other hand, 
holds forth a most solemn warning to the hypocrit- 
ical professor of religion ; and to that Christian, 



DISCOURSE IV. 53 

also, who so far declines from the service of his 
Divine Master, as to approach the memorials of 
his dying love with an ignorance of their proper 
and important meaning, with sin that is not repent- 
ed of, with an unforgiving spirit, or with a self- 
righteous and unbelieving heart. 

Lest this should be our unhappy case, it becomes 
us, my brethren, to institute a strict inquiry into 
the state of our own souls, and to implore Almighty 
God, that he would " search us, and know our 
hearts ;" that he would " try us, and know our 
thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in 
us, and lead us in the way everlasting." It be- 
comes us ever to bear in mind the solemn warning 
of our text ; to remember the awful declension and 
suffering condition of the Corinthian Christians ; 
and to fear lest we " fall after the same example 
of unbelief." " God is just who taketh vengeance." 
He hath said unto the wicked, " What hast thou 
to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest 
take my covenant in thy mouth ?" He hath said 

that the " hope of the hypocrite shall be cut off," 

and that his trust shall be " a spider's web." Let 
us, then, examine ourselves, lest, eating and drink- 
ing unworthily, we become " guilty of the body 
and blood of the Lord." Are we ignorant of, or 
do we pervert, the true spirit and meaning of the 
Lord's Supper ? Do we approach this sacred ordi- 
nance with an impenitent or unforgiving spirit ? Do 



>1< DISCOURSE IV. 

we receive the testimonials of our Saviour's dying 
love, without a cordial faith in him, and an entire 
reliance upon his merits alone, for acceptance with 
God ? — These are questions which conscience alone 
can answer. If its testimony be against us, it be- 
hoves us to " remember from whence we are fallen, 
and to repent ; to turn unto the Lord with all the 
heart, with fasting, and with weeping, and with 
mourning ; and to supplicate the aids of his grace, 
that we may be delivered from the condemnation 
of such as profane his holy ordinances. 

If, on the other hand, the testimony of our 
conscience is, that " in simplicity and godly sincer- 
ity ; with some humble hope of having been re- 
newed in the temper of our minds ; with some 
spiritual understanding of what is signified by the 
symbols of the Lord's Supper, we desire to approach 
its affecting solemnities asan expression of attach- 
ment to their Author, and of entire reliance on his 
merits ; then let us feel encouragement and conso- 
lation. We may have occasional doubts and fears : 
our views of the doctrines of religion may be im- 
perfect : we may discover remains of sin in our 
hearts ; but these alone are not obstacles in the way 
of a worthy participation of the Lord's Supper. 
They prove, indeed, o\ir lukewarmness and our 
guilt ; they call for sincere and hearty repentance j 
they should teach us to be humble before God. 
But if thus penitent and humble, we need not hes- 
itate to celebrate the dying love of Him who is the 



DISCOURSE IV. 55 

Friend of the lowly and the contrite, and of whom 
it is said, for our comfort and encouragement, that 
" a bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking 
flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judg- 
ment unto victory." 



DISCOURSE V. 

MATTHEW iH. 8. 

Bring forth, therefore, fruits meet for repentance. 

1 he Pharisees and Sadducees were sects of em- 
inent distinction among the Jews. They occupied 
the highest civil and religious offices, and were 
venerated by the common people for the supposed 
sanctity of their lives. By a strict observance of 
all the outward forms and ceremonies of religion ; 
by a zealous defence of some idle traditions ; by a 
perpetual warfare about speculative and erroneous 
doctrines, they would fain appear to be of all men the 
most holy. But very many of them, we have reason 
to think, were mere hypocrites. Nor will this judg- 
ment appear to be rash or uncharitable, if we only 
call to mind the severe rebukes which they so often 
received from our Saviour. He saw through their 
false disguises, and charged them, notwithstanding 
their ostentatious display of the most exalted virtue, 
with being full of all manner of wickedness. The 
Forerunner of Christ, too, treated them with no more 
lenity. When he came preaching in the wilderness 



DISCOURSE V. 



57 



of Judea, saying, " Repent, for the kingdom of 
heaven is at hand, there went out to him Jerusa- 
lem, and all Judea, and all the region round 
about Jordan, and were baptized of him in Jordan, 
confessing their sins." But when he saw many of 
the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, 
he said unto them, " O generation of vipers ! who 
hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come ? 
Bring forth, therefore, fruits meet for repentance." 
As if he had said, " So vile and corrupt do I know 
most of your sects to be ; so inflated with pride and 
self-righteousness ; so dependant upon your own 
superior holiness for acceptance with Godj that I 
am filled with astonishment to see you come to my 
baptism. For I preach the doctrine of repentance, 
and they who become my disciples are not back- 
ward to confess their sins with the deepest sorrow 
and contrition of heart. What voice has roused you 
from the slumber of death, and filled you with 
anxiety to escape the just vengeance of God ? But 
if your penitence is indeed sincere, let it be mark- 
ed as such by its inseparable attendant, a thorough 
and permanent reformation." " Bring forth, there- 
fore, fruits meet for repentance." 

Our text, my brethren, thus explained, enforces 
upon our most serious attention this important 
truth, that no repentance can be genuine without a 
radical reformation of heart and life. 

In endeavouring to unfold the meaning of this 
doctrine, let us consider, first, the reasons on which 



58 DISCOURSE v.. 

it is founded ; and, secondly, the nature of that 
reformation which it inculcates. 

I. We are to consider the reasons on which the 
doctrine is founded, that no repentance can be 
genuine, without a radical reformation of heart 
and life. These reasons will be very evident, if 
we attend but a little to those causes which, under 
the influence of the Spirit of God, produce repent- 
ance in the heart of the sinner. 

1. Repentance is in part founded on a deep 
conviction of the justice of the law of God, and o( 
the awful nature of its penalty. — It was said by the 
venerable Dr. Watts, than whom scarcely any ser- 
vant of Christ has been favoured with a more deep 
insight into the Christian character, that, with the 
exception of one or two instances, all the cases of 
genuine repentance which had happened within 
the sphere of his ministry were to be traced to the 
fear of future punishment. And, without doubt, 
this is more generally the fact than is apt to be ima- 
gined. The Gospel is a system of motives adapted 
to our hopes and our fears : and " what God hath 
joined together, let not man put asunder." Our 
Supreme Lawgiver has seen fit to disclose to us the 
tremendous penalty of his violated law ; and he 
urges us by all the horrors of its awful execution to 
flee from the wrath to come. The terrors of the Lord 
persuade men. The sinner is alarmed at his danger. 
He sees that the law which he has broken is holy, 
and just, and good. He trembles with fearful despon- 



DISCOURSE V. 59 

dency at the view of his past transgressions. He 
acknowledges, that if judgment should be laid to 
the line, and righteousness to the plummet, he could 
not stand before the offended Majesty of Heaven. 
He sorrows for his past guilt in view of the dread- 
ful doom to which it has exposed him. And thus 
his repentance is in part founded on a deep convic- 
tion of the justice of the law of God, and of the 
awful nature of its penalty. But this law never 
abates its requirements. What it has exacted it still 
exacts — perfect obedience. The Gospel hath not 
made it void. Having brought the sinner to con- 
trition, it still continues to be the rule of his con- 
duct. And if so, he can feel no genuine repentance 
for having violated the law of God, unless he ac- 
knowledge and obey its authority with regard to his 
future life ; unless he commence and prosecute the 
work of a thorough and permanent reformation. 

2. Repentance is in part founded upon a deep 
conviction of the purity of the law of God. — The 
purity of this law is to be distinguished from its 
justice. The latter threatens a penalty which 
addresses itself to our fears : the former holds forth 
the rule of right conduct, and claims the assent of 
our conscience. The one makes us tremble for our 
future safety : the other distresses us with a view of 
our present guilt. Hence it is, that the awakened 
sinner, before he can be truly penitent, must always 
be found abhorring himself for his past transgres- 
sions 5 not simply because they have exposed him 
to future punishment, but because they have been 



tJO DISCOURSE V. 

committed in violation of a law which forms a most 
holy rule of conduct ; prescribing nothing base, noth 
ing degrading, but all that is honest,and just, and pure, 
and lovely, and of good report. How does he grieve 
for the past debasement of his moral character! How 
is he filled with deep and penetential sorrow, when 
he reflects, that, instead of rising to the noble dig- 
nity of a virtuous being, he has wallowed in the 
grossness of sensuality, or been devoted to the sor- 
did pursuit of uncertain riches, or been fascinated 
with the empty applauses of an erring and deceitful 
world ! An obedience to the pure law of God would 
have saved him from this moral degradation, and 
from the present sharp rebuke of his wounded con- 
science. But this same law is still his only rule of 
conduct. A conformity to its precepts is still ne- 
cessary to form his moral character, and to satisfy 
the demands of his conscience. And if so, he can 
surely feel no genuine repentance for having viola- 
ted this law of God, unless he acknowledge and 
obey its authority with regard to his future life ; 
unless he commence and prosecute the work of a 
thorough and permanent reformation. 

3. Repentance is in part founded upon a deep 
conviction of the unhappy consequences of sin. — 1 
do not here refer to the effect of sin upon the sin- 
ner's individual happiness ; that has been already 
considered ; but to its effect upon the happiness 
of others. He who is truly penitent, at the recol- 
lection of his past transgressions, will soon cease to 
think only of the injury which they have done to 



DISCOURSE V. 61 

his own safety and peace, His keenest pang of 
sorrow will arise from the remembrance of the evils 
which others may have suffered, either from his 
neglect of duty towards them or from the unhappy 
influence of his bad example. In all the various 
relations of life— whether Providence may have 
raised him to stations of public honour and trust, 
or limited his sphere of action within the domes- 
tic and social circle — he will have reason to 
lament the ten thousand opportunities he has 
neglected of doing good to those around him ; of 
soothing their distresses ; of relieving their wants ; 
of enlightening their minds ; of reclaiming them 
from sin '; of urging them to attend to the concerns 
of their immortal souls, and of supplicating the 
Throne of Grace in their behalf. Nay, what is 
worse, he may have mocked at every thing sober 
and serious ; he may have laughed away the first 
religious impressions from the breast of some friend 
or acquaintance ; he may have delighted to tread 
the forbidden paths of sensuality and sin, and may 
have seduced, by his base example, the innocent 
and unwary to destruction. Thus, either by gross 
neglect on the one hand, or by direct influence on 
the other, he may have shut out some miserable soul 
from heaven, and may have plunged it into irreme- 
diable woe. And, if really penitent, his heart will 
bleed at the remembrance of these consequences of 
his guilt. He will begin to realize the true and 
awful nature of sin. He will see that, if permitted 
to have an unchecked sway, it would soon blot out 



62 DISCOURSE V. 

all that is fair and lovely and cheering from creation, 
and envelop it in one eternal midnight of wretched- 
ness and despair. So far, therefore, as he may have 
contributed to this horrid predominance of sin, even 
within the narrow circle in which he has moved, so 
far he sees reason for the deepest repentance. But 
if such be the character of his past, such also will 
be that of his future, guilt ; for sin will ever be 
opposed to real happiness. He, therefore, can sure- 
ly feel no genuine repentance for the consequences 
of his past guilt, who does not labour to become 
entirely free from the dominion of sin in future— 
who does not commence and prosecute the work 
of a thorough and permanent reformation. 

4. Repentance is principally founded upon a 
deep conviction of past ingratitude toward God. 
This cause of repentance swallows up all the rest ; 
or rather, they all terminate in this. For God is 
the Author of that law which denounces eternal 
death against the transgressor, and to the just pen- 
alty of which the penitent sinner has long been 
exposed ; and yet the arm of Divine Justice has 
not fallen upon his guilty head. God is the Author 
of that law, by the disobedience of which the peni- 
tent sinner hath so degraded his moral character, 
and roused to its keenest rebuke a wounded and 
angry conscience ; and yet Divine Grace has all 
the while been offering, and still offers, its pure and 
holy influence to remove all sin from the heart, and 
to adorn it with every Christian virtue. God is the 
Author of all those relations of life in which the pen- 



DISCOURSE V. 63 

itent sinner hath so grossly neglected his duty, and 
done dreadful, perhaps irreparable, injury to the 
best interests of his fellow- men ; and yet Divine 
Goodness has continued to sustain him in life, and 
even to crown that life with loving-kindness and 
with tender mercies. He has had food to eat, and 
raiment to put on. He has enjoyed the comforts 
and conveniences, perhaps the refinements and lux- 
uries, of civilized society. He has reposed beneath 
his own vine, with none to molest or make him 
afraid. And what is far beyond all these mercies — 
crowning them all, ennobling them all, giving impor- 
tance to them all — he has been permitted to hear the 
glad news of Salvation through Jesus Christ, and has 
had continually placed before him the means of 
grace and the hope of glory. These good and 
perfect gifts have all flowed upon him from one 
Source — from that Being who is merciful, and kind, 
and long-suffering even to the ungrateful and rebel- 
lious. His past transgressions, therefore, take their 
deepest dye from the reflection that they have been 
committed against God ; and the true penitent is 
ready to exclaim, with the contrite monarch of 
Israel, " Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, 
and done this evil in thy sight." But this goodness 
of God, which thus lays the foundation of genuine 
repentance, still continues to bless the penitent 
sinner. Does he mourn for his past ingratitude r 
Has the goodness of God led him to repentance f 
The same goodness still demands the most loyal 
homage of his heart, and calls for unceasing ex- 



6*4 DISCOURSE V. 

pressions of grateful obedience. He, therefore, can 
surely feel no genuine repentance for his past in- 
gratitude toward God, who does not endeavour to 
love him more and serve him better in future — who 
does not commence and prosecute the work of a 
thorough and permanent reformation. 

Thus you see, my brethren, how all the causes 
which tend to produce genuine repentance must, 
with the force of necessity, lead to a radical ref- 
ormation of heart and life. These are as indis- 
solubly connected as the fountain, and the streams 
which it pours forth ; as the tree, and the fruit 
which it bears. Trust not, then, to any outward 
expression of humiliation and penitence before God, 
as the test of your sincerity. Count not the sighs,, 
and tears, and groans, which may have attended 
your more secret prostration of soul, before the of- 
fended Majesty of Heaven. Rely not on these for 
proof of the genuineness of your repentance. Rath- 
er scrutinize your present purposes and motives of 
action : examine the real character of your daily 
conduct and conversation : and thus learn whether 
you are truly penitent, by ascertaining whether you 
do indeed bring forth fruits meet for repentance. 

II. And that we may all the better practice this 
important duty of self-examination, let us consider, 
as was proposed in the second place, the nature of 
that reformation which the doctrine of our text in- 
culcates. This reformation will be radical, and it 
will be permanent. 



DISCOURSE V. 65 

1. It will be radical. — It will lay the axe to the 
root of the sinner's past transgressions. It will pu- 
rify the fountain whence all his wickedness has 
flowed. It will reach the heart, penetrating its 
most hidden recesses, and hallowing its most secret 
affections. There is, my brethren, a mere external 
reformation of conduct, which often takes place in 
those who are alarmed at the consequences of sin. 
The fact is, their repentance is not allied to a hum- 
ble reliance on the merits of Jesus Christ for accep- 
tance with God ; but to a dependence on their own 
future obedience. Self-righteousness is the foun- 
dation of their apparent reformation. And in what 
does their reformation consist ? In abstaining from 
gross and palpable immoralities of conduct ; in 
preserving a decent and sober external deportment : 
in attending to the outward forms and ceremonies 
of religion. Of that internal purity of heart which 
consists in bringing, or at least attempting to reduce, 
the most retired thoughts, the most secret motives 
of conduct, into subjection to the law of God, 
which requires that we should do all things for his 
glory ; — of a radical reformation like this, the false 
penitent knows nothing. Let us then, my hearers, 
be careful to see, whether the reformation which 
our repentance produces is commensurate with the 
extent of our past transgressions. Does it aim to 
rectify all the disorders of our souls ? Does it make 
no compromise with any secret or easily besetting 
sin ? Does it strive to slay all the remaining enmity 
which exists in the carnal mind against God ? 

9 



66 DISCOURSE V. 

Does it seek to remove all that sluggish lukewarm- 
ness of soul which damps the ardour of devotion ? 
and chills the seraphic glow of communion with 
God ? Does it labour to eradicate from the breast 
all that grovelling and undue attachment to this 
world, to its honours, its wealth, its business, or its 
pleasures, which is the reproach and disgrace of 
too many who are called Christians ; which is so 
great a stumbling-block in the way of unbelievers ; 
which strengthens the cause of mammon, while it 
weakens that of Christ ; which sullies the lustre 
of Christian example, palsies the arm of Christian 
exertion, keeps the church of God in its infancy, 
and, with cruel and cold-hearted delay, retards the 
arrival of its bright, millenial glory ? Yes, my 
Christian brethren, I would fain press it upon our 
consciences to say, whether our contrition for our 
past cold and sluggish indolence in the cause of God 
be indeed sincere. Does it lead to a thorough 
reformation ; to active and zealous industry in 
his service ; to a holy contempt of the vanities of 
this life ; to frequent aspirations of soul for the 
purity and happiness of the heavenly state ? And 
with this zeal for the Lord of Hosts, with this el- 
evation of mind above the world, do we make it 
our daily business, in some way or other, to add our 
humble efforts, a portion of our time, or talents, or 
conversation, or influence, or wealth — to the great 
mass of noble exertion which Christians, in our own 
and other countries, are making for the building up 
of the Redeemer's kingdom upon the earth ? 



DISCOURSE V. 67 

2. In the second place, Is this spirit of reforma- 
tion not only radical but permanent ? — Does it 
warm and animate our path toward heaven with a 
bright and constant ray ; or does it cast over it at 
distant intervals, a sickly and flickering light, just 
serving to render the darkness of our spiritual state 
visible ? To speak without a figure, is the struggle 
against sin habitual ? Is the aim at perfection 
unremitting ? Is the often recurring temptation 
watchfully resisted ; the secret and easily besetting 
sin constantly and manfully struggled with ? Above 
all, is the Source of all genuine repentance, of all 
thorough and permanent reformation — the Holy 
Spirit of God — sought for by frequent and impor- 
tunate supplication at the Throne of Grace ; that 
while we are working out our salvation with fear 
and trembling, God would be pleased, by his ener- 
gy, to work in us both to will and to do of his good 
pleasure ? With such inquiries, my brethren, let 
us try the sincerity of our penitence ; not relying 
too much for consolation on any past or present 
sorrow for our guilt ; not building our hopes of 
heaven upon mere frames and feelings of mind ; 
above all, not trusting to any outward observance 
of the forms and ceremonies of religion, but 
remembering what our Saviour hath said, that if 
we love him we shall keep his commandments ; 
let us look to the reformation of our hearts and 
lives for the best proof of our spiritual safety. And 
let us ever bear in mind for our consolation and 






68 DISCOURSE V. 

support, that if, by this patient continuance in well- 
doing, we seek for glory, and honour, and immor- 
tality, in due time we shall reap, if we faint not> 
eternal life. 



DISCOURSE VI 



MATTHEW Vi. 10, 



Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it 
is in heaven. 



Prayer is not only a reasonable, but a most de- 
lightful duty. It is the acknowledgment of our 
dependence on God. It is the cry of the poor and 
needy to Him who is the Fountain of all good and 
happiness. It is the overflowing of a grateful heart 
to the Author of all its mercies and privileges. It is 
the ladder which connects earth and heaven, and on 
which descend to the pious soul all needful commu- 
nications of wisdom and grace. What Christian has 
not learned its efficacv, and felt its consolation ? 
What Christian, too, has not often been ready to ex- 
claim with Elihu of old, " Teach us what we shall 
say unto God ; for we cannot order our speech by 
reason of darkness r" This difficulty it was which 
induced the disciples of Jesus Christ to ask him to 
teach them to pray, as John did his disciples. His 
instruction we have on record ; and it exhibits to 
us a guide and model of devotion alike remarkable 



70 DISCOURSE VL 

for its comprehensiveness and simplicity. It is 
valuable, also, as containing an exhibition of the 
most prominent graces of the true disciple of Christ. 
For one great object of prayer is to produce those 
holy affections and desires which should adorn the 
heart that aspires to become a fit temple for the 
residence of the Holy Ghost. Our Saviour, there- 
fore, teaches us to pray for those things which are 
most necessary to keep alive within us the temper 
of habitual love and obedience to God, and thus 
enforces the necessity of that connexion which 
must always be preserved between our devotions 
and our conduct. Alas ! how prone are we to forget 
this truth, and to imagine, that if we perform faith- 
fully a certain circle of what are termed religious 
duties, if we offer up our prayers with fervour and 
importunity, it is of little moment what is the char- 
acter of our heart and deportment in the common 
concerns and transactions of life. But how great, 
in this respect, are our mistake and guilt ? Holiness 
is the same, whether it glow in the devotions of the 
seraph, or warm the breast of him who bestows a 
cup of water on the humblest disciple. The spirit 
of prayer is the same spirit which should animate 
the Christian at all times. For he is commanded 
to " pray without ceasing ;" that is, to preserve un- 
der all circumstances, a devotional frame of mind 
—one which will enable him, let his pursuits and 
business be what they may, to raise his heart up- 
ward, and to commune with his Father who is in 
heaven. The nature of this devotional spirit is 



DISCOURSE VI. 71 

clearly taught us in the prayer which our Saviour 
gave his disciples, as the guide and model of their 
worship. And its essential character is sufficiently 
described in the words of my text : — " Thy king- 
dom come : Thy will be done in earth as it is in 
heaven." He who always prays with this spirit, and 
who cherishes and preserves it as the director of all his 
affections and conduct, has that true holiness which 
will fit him for the blessed society above, whose 
constant delight is to do the will of God. That we 
may improve the words of the text to the cultiva- 
tion of this spirit of prayer, let us consider, first, the 
meaning of these petitions: " Thy kingdom come: 
Thy will be done in earth as it is in Heaven ;" — 
and, secondly, the spirit with which they should be 
offered. 

I. We are to consider the meaning of these peti- 
tions ; " Thy kingdom come : Thy will be done in 
earth as it is in heaven." Although these petitions 
are distinct the one from the other, they have, in 
fact, the same import, and are directed to the ac- 
complishment of the same object. For were the 
kingdom of God fully come ; that is, did it embrace 
and govern all men ; then would his will indeed be 
done in earth as it is in heaven. The latter petition, 
therefore, may be considered as explanatory of the 
former. In order, then to ascertain the meaning of 
both, we have only to inquire what is meant in the 
text by the expression, " Thy will." " Thy will 
be done in earth as it is in heaven." 



72 DISCOURSE VI, 

Of the nature of God's will, as an attribute of 
his Divine mind, we know nothing. How far it 
resembles our own, and how immensely it differs 
from it, we must be for ever ignorant. " Canst 
thou by searching, find out God ? Canst thou find 
out the Almighty unto perfection ? It is high 
as heaven, what canst thou do ? deeper than 
hell, what canst thou know ?" This should lead 
us to be very humble and modest in all our specr 
ulations concerning God's sovereign will and pleas- 
ure ; how he truly purposes every event that takes 
place, and yet in such a way as to leave man's free 
agency and accountability entirely unimpaired. 
We should rest satisfied with the plain and express 
declarations of Scripture on this subject, and make 
them the ground of our faith and confidence in God ? 
without venturing to attempt its explanation by 
our own reason. " Secret things belong unto the 
Lord our God ; but those things which are revealed 
belong unto us, and to our children for ever, that 
we may do all the words of his law." 

But though the nature of God's will is thus con- 
cealed from us, we may know much of its effects 
from what his word teaches us of the great object of 
his will, and of the means which he uses to accom- 
plish this object. The object of God's will is the 
display of his own glorious perfections, in order 
that the greatest happiness of his intelligent crea- 
tures may be promoted by leading them to admire 
and love this display. To accomplish this object, 
he has created beings capable of knowing, of loving. 



DISCOURSE VI. 73 

and of serving Him. He has passed before them, 
and will yet pass, in such manifestations of himself 
as are calculated to exhibit his goodness in its most 
attractive, and his justice in its most awful forms. 
He has given them, as a rule of conduct, the law of 
holiness, and connected with the violation of this 
law a most dreadful penalty. It is by the obedi- 
ence of this law among some of his subjects, and 
by others suffering the punishment which it de- 
nounces against transgressors, that his throne will 
be established in the heavens, his name glorified 
among his saints, and all who love him rendered 
completely and eternally happy. Why it is neces- 
sary, in order to promote God's glory, and the great- 
est good of his creatures, that sin and suffering 
should exist, we cannot fully discover. 1 pretend 
not to shorten the line of those who venture to 
fathom these deep and awful subjects. " Let 
every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.'- 
But to those whose eye can measure but a little 
way the boundless ocean of God's providence, and 
who, sensible of the darkness of their minds, ex- 
claim with the Apostle, " O the depth and riches 
both of the wisdom and knowledge of God ! how 
unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past 
finding out !" — to such, one plain declaration of 
Scripture is more satisfactory than all the specu- 
lations of human reason. From God's word they 
learn that he will be glorified by the punishment 
of transgressors, and by those very events which 
are brought to pass by means of their disobedi 

10 



74 DISCOURSE VI. 

ence ; that this very disobedience and punishment ? 
however, were foreseen by him from eternity ; nay, 
that he permits them to exist, and sustains in being 
the very agency of man by which they are produ- 
ced, yet in such a way as to preserve his own holi- 
ness and justice unblemished, and to render the sin- 
ner guilty and inexcusable. With this the believer 
is satisfied. He knows that the Judge of all the 
earth will do right, and he adopts the submissive 
language of our Saviour : "Even so, Father ; for so 
it seemed good in thy sight." 

This will of God, which relates to the existence 
of sin and suffering, is a part of what is often termed 
his secret tvill. Our text, I apprehend, does not so 
much refer to this as to the revealed will of God. 
Still it may indirectly refer to it, and then the 
meaning of the petition would be, that with regard 
to the future existence of evil, either natural or 
moral, the believer reposes the most entire confi- 
dence in the wisdom and justice of God, praying 
that he would direct events according to the counsel 
of his most holy will, and so overrule the wickedness 
of man, as that good may come out of evil, and the 
Throne of Heaven be established by the entire 
overthrow of all its enemies. But to pray that sin 
may exist, either under a general or particular 
shape ; to cease to detest it as the abominable thing 
which God hateth, or to remit a single prayer or a 
single effort against it ; to do this is to act contrary 
to the whole tenor of Scripture. It is to suffer some 
speculative difficulties and theories to sway our 



DISCOURSE VI. 75 

minds, instead of the plain and practical precepts 
of the Gospel. 

But, as 1 before observed, the petitions contain- 
ed in our text, refer chiefly to the revealed will of 
God, as contained in that law which he has given 
us as our rule of action. This law, as explained 
by our Saviour, requires that we should " love 
the Lord our God with our whole soul and strength 
and mind, and our neighbour as ourselves." This 
is that spirit of love and benevolence which per- 
vades the breasts of the angels in heaven ; and we 
are directed to pray that it may equally control the 
affections and conduct of our fellow- men. That 
such may be the happy resemblance of earth to 
heaven, it is first necessary that the kingdom of 
God should come in all its majesty and dominion. 
Jesus Christ must take to himself his great power, 
and reign King of nations, as he now is King of 
saints. The heathen must be given to him for his 
inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for 
his possession. All must bow to his sceptre and 
submit to his laws. 

Alas ! how sadly different from this state of 
things is the present aspect of our world ! Look for 
a moment, my brethren, through the vast tribes of 
your fellow-men, of those whose pulse beats with 
blood like yours, whose souls are immortal like your 
own, and, like yours, need to be created anew in 
Christ Jesus. How little is our earth like heaven ! 
How much more does it resemble the infernal 
world ! We have reason to fear that multitudes of 



76 DISCOURSE VI. 

mankind, who are now on the stage of action, in- 
stead of growing up into the fair resemblance of the 
spirits of just men made perfect in heaven, are con- 
tracting deeper and deeper shades of moral guilt, 
and becoming more and more assimilated to the 
terrific character of those apostate angels who are 
reserved in everlasting chains, under darkness, 
unto the judgment of the great day. The will of 
God, I mean his revealed will, is not done ; his 
authority is not submitted to ; his laws are not 
obeyed. Nor will they be obeyed until the Saviour 
is known, and trusted in, as the only refuge for sin- 
ners, throughout the whole habitable globe : for in 
no other way, and by no other influence, will man 
cease to be a rebel against his Maker, and learn to 
do his will as the angels do in Heaven. 

Thus, my hearers, have I attempted to unfold 
the meaning of my text. It may have an indirect 
reference to the secret will of God. So far it re- 
quires that we should pray, with the most entire 
confidence in the wisdom and justice of our Heav- 
enly Father, that he would direct and overrule all 
events, according to the counsel of his most holy 
will ; that he would bring good out of evil ; and, by 
the very opposition and wickedness of his enemies, 
display his most glorious perfections, and promote 
the eternal good of all who love him. But the pe- 
titions contained in the text refer more directly to 
his revealed will. In this sense, they require, in 
one word, that we should pray for the extension of 
the Redeemer's kingdom, and that all men may be 



DISCOURSE VI. 77 

brought to the knowledge and love of the truth as it 
is in Jesus. 

II. I proceed to consider with what spirit we 
should pray, " Thy kingdom come : Thy will be 
done in earth as it is in heaven." 

First, These petitions should be offered with a 
spirit of love — of love to God, of love to his Son, of 
love to the souls of our fellow-men. — How can we 
desire that the will of any being should be carried 
into effect unless we love that being ? Where a 
character is hateful in our view, how do we long to 
controul and check the purposes of him who pos- 
sesses it ! On the contrary, where the character is 
amiable, we admire to see it exhibited in all its va- 
rious expressions of loveliness. We are anxious 
that the will of its possessor should be constantly 
accomplished. To pray, therefore, that the will of 
God may be done, is but solemn mockery and in- 
sult, unless we love God. His character, as dis- 
played in the works of creation, of providence and 
redemption — combining, in its full perfection, the 
beauty of unbounded benevolence, the purity of 
entire holiness, the splendor of matchless wisdom, 
the might of supreme power, and the majesty of 
inflexible justice — must be the unceasing object of 
our veneration and love, if we mean to cherish the 
true spirit of prayer, and to worship the infinite 
Spirit in spirit and in truth. 

Again ; as we know it to be impossible that his 
will should be done in earth as it is in heaven, until 



78 



DISCOURSE VI. 



the proud and rebellious heart of man be renovated 
by the grace of that Spirit which his Son died to 
purchase, we cannot offer these petitions in sincer- 
ity without love to the Redeemer. " Lo, I come 
(in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to 
do thy will, O God !" was the language of our 
Saviour, when he undertook to reconcile the world 
unto God by his death. " By the which will we 
are sanctified, through the offering of the body of 
Jesus Christ once for all." There is then but 
one way of becoming holy. It is by faith in Jesus. 
His blood alone can purify our souls. His right- 
eousness alone is our refuge from the wrath to 
come. His Spirit alone can restore to us the image 
of Heaven which we have lost, and make us, like 
the angel's above, the cheerful ministers of God's 
will. When we pray, therefore, that this will may 
be done by all the inhabitants of this lower world, 
great should be our affection to that Saviour who 
was lifted up that he might draw all men unto him ; 
strong should be our faith in his merits, unwavering 
our confidence in his promises, and ardent our at 
tachment to his cause. 

Again ; the same sincerity, requisite in offering 
up these petitions, makes it necessary that our 
hearts should be enlarged with love to the souls of 
our fellow-men. How can we present these re- 
quests at the Throne of Grace, without commise- 
rating the hapless condition of millions who refuse 
to do the will of God ? Could we but lift the veil 
which conceals eternity from our view, and look 



DISCOURSE VI. 



79 



with a single glance into that prison of despair in 
which those who once opposed the will of God in 
heaven are confined against the judgment of the 
great day ; could we anticipate the awful solemni- 
ties of that day, and hear the voice of the Son of 
man, saying, " But those mine enemies, which 
would not that I should reign over them, bring hith- 
er and slay them before me ;" how should we grieve 
at the world lying in wickedness ! How ardently 
should we desire the salvation of our families, of our 
friends, of our neighbours, of all mankind ! And 
praying always that God's will might be done in 
earth as it is in heaven, we should always preserve 
that spirit of benevolence which the Gospel enjoins. 
Thus devotion and charity must be kindred graces 
in the soul ; and he has no true love to God, no 
honest desire for the establishment of his dominion 
on earth, no sincere wish that the earth may become 
holy and happy like heaven, whose heart does not 
glow with love to the souls of his fellow- men. 

Secondly, These petitions should be offered up 
with a spirit of submission. — Mark, my brethren, 
the example of Him who came into our world, not 
to do his own will, but the will of him that sent 
him. How ardent were his prayers, how unceas- 
ing were his efforts, that the will of God might be 
done in earth as it is in heaven ! And how submis- 
sive was he to this will, even when it inflicted on 
his own head the severest trials and sufferings ! 
You remember the garden of Gethsemane, and the 
agony which made our Saviour sweat drops of blood 



80 DISCOURSE VI. 

You remember his impassioned entreaty—" O my 
Father ! if it be possible, let this cup pass from me ; 
nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt" — an en- 
treaty thrice repeated in the anticipation of the awful 
scenes which were before him. He was tempted, 
or tried in all points, like as we are. Being a man, 
his human nature shrunk from the horrible agonies 
of the cross. Yet he bowed in meek submission 
to the will of his Father in heaven. " He was 
oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not 
his mouth : he was brought as a lamb to the slaugh- 
ter, and as a sheep before his shearers is dumb, so 
he opened not his mouth." 

My brethren, " be ye followers of Christ as dear 
children." When you pray that the will of God 
may be done in earth as it is in heaven, do not for- 
get that you, individually, are the subjects of this 
will. The Almighty may for wise purposes call you 
to mourning, lamentation and woe, on this side the 
grave : he may deprive you of your dearest earthly 
comforts ; he may blast your fondest worldly ex- 
pectations ; he may bring death into your families 
and to your very bosoms ; he may touch your health 
with the finger of disease, and make it wither ; he 
may send you days of trouble and nights of pain ; 
he may command it, and your riches take to them- 
selves wings and fly away : in one word, he may so 
afflict you as to leave you but one single solace — the 
hope of rest beyond the grave. Still if you cherish 
the true spirit of prayer ; if you do indeed long that 
the will of God may be done in earth as it is in 



DISCOURSE VI. 81 

heaven you will check every murmuring thought, 
and learn continually to say, " Even so, Father, for 
so it seemed good in thy sight." 

Finally, These petitions should be offered up in 
a spirit of co-operation. — By this I mean, that while 
we pray that God's will may be done in earth as it 
is in heaven, our own efforts should not be wanting 
toward the accomplishment of this glorous object. 
God condescends to act through our humble instru- 
mentality. He is building up the Redeemer's king- 
dom on the earth ; but how ? Not as he called the 
world into existence — not as he destroyed the cities 
of the plain — not as he parted the waters of the 
Red Sea, by his simple word — not as he saw fit to do 
in the first age of the church, by investing his ser- 
vants with the power of working miracles — but in a 
way more natural, more gradual, more silent,; by 
the influence of Divine truth upon the hearts and 
conduct of men, accompanied, as it always must be, 
with the operation of his Holy Spirit. Now, my 
hearers, the dissemination of this Divine truth has 
God committed to our care. Much may be done 
to promote its salutary effect by the humblest indi- 
vidual. His family, his friends, his neighbourhood, 
his town may all reap the benefit of his exertions. 
Something even of his earthly substance he can 
contribute for the promotion of charitable and pious 
objects. Now and then he can cast a mite into 
the treasury of God, that his holy word may be sent, 
to those who are perishing for lack of knowledge, 
He can lend his influence, however small, and hi? 
11 






82 DISCOURSE VI. 

example, however few may observe it, for the sup- 
pression of vice, for the promotion of good order 
and of good morals, and of what is worth more 
than these, and without which they have no stable 
foundation — evangelical holiness of heart. But he, 
to whom Providence has entrusted more talents, 
will have a more strict account to render. Shall he 
dare to pray, that God's will may be done in earth 
as it is in heaven, and yet make provision for the 
flesh alone to fulfil the lusts thereof? How can he 
cast his eye over the miseries of the human family, 
and learn from the light of God's word, that these 
miseries are the wages of sin, and that this sin will 
yield to no power but that of the Cross, and yet do 
nothing for the promotion of the Redeemer's king- 
dom on the earth ? How can he pray that this 
world may become like heaven, and yet sit still, 
and see the powers of darkness toiling to carry on 
their work of devastation and woe, without so much 
as lifting a finger against them ? What inconsisten- 
cy ! I had almost said, what blasphemy ! The lan- 
guage of his lips is — " Carry on, Almighty God, the 
purposes of thy redeeming love ; gather in thy elect ; 
save mankind from their awful state of wretched- 
ness and sin ; proclaim the glad news of salva- 
tion to the distant corners of the earth ; send forth 
the ministers of thy Word, and the missionaries of 
thy Cross ; give thy Son the heathen for his inher- 
itance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for his 
possession." The language of his conduct is — 
■ A Excuse my remissness in thy service ; leave me to 



DISCOURSE VI. 83 

amass wealth, to feast on pleasure, to shine with 
distinction, and to say to my soul, ' Soul, thou hast 
much goods laid up for many years ; take thine 
ease ; eat, drink, and be merry.' " My hearers, 
would you avoid this dreadful inconsistency of con- 
duct, and its most awful consequences ? Then let 
your spirit of prayer be accompanied with a spirit 
of co-operation. To piety toward God, join a pru- 
dent zeal in his service. And let your industry in 
doing good, prove that you are indeed longing, and 
hoping, and praying for the approach of that happy 
day when the kingdom of God shall be fully come, 
and " his will be done in earth as it is in heaven." 



DISCOURSE VII 



JOHN i. 12. 



But as many as received him } to them gave he power 
to become the sons of God y even to them that believe 
on his name. 

All our conceptions of a future state, and of our 
present relation to it, are obviously very inadequate 
and imperfect. For we have no direct intercourse 
with the invisible world ; we see it only by the eye 
of faith : we think of it only through the assistance 
of analogy : we speak of it only in language origin- 
ally appropriated to the objects of time and sense. 

Hence it is that the sacred Scriptures, in accom- 
modation to our weak and limited understanding, 
abound so much in metaphor and allegory. The 
character of God himself, that awful and mysterious 
Being ; all his majestic works in the kingdoms of 
Nature, Providence, and Grace ; and all the various 
and important relations which he sustains to his in- 
telligent creatures, .are there expressed in terms 
borrowed from the present state and circumstances 
of our being. A judicious reference, therefore, to 
this state and to these circumstances often affords 



DISCOURSE VII, 85 

the best, and sometimes the only solution of the 
figures of holy writ. 

Believers are, in this manner, called " God's hus- 
bandry ;" because the seeds of holiness originally 
implanted in their hearts by his hand, cherished 
by the dews of Divine Grace, and invigorated by 
the beams of the Sun of Righteousness, grow up, 
under this culture, into that mature perfection of 
beauty which they will eternally exhibit in the par- 
adise above. Believers are called " God's build- 
ing; because, like a wise architect, he forms, and 
fashions, and disposes their spiritual graces into a 
divine symmetry and proportion, so as to render 
their hearts fit temples for the residence of his Holy 
Spirit. Believers are also called " a chosen gene- 
ration, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a pecul- 
iar people ;" all of which metaphors derive their 
significancy from that course of God's providence 
in this world which falls within the scope of human 
observation and experience. What a variety, and. 
I had almost said, redundancy, of figure is here em- 
ployed to denote the relation between Christians 
and their God. Strong, indeed, is the tie which 
binds their temporal and eternal destiny to the 
Throne of Heaven, securing to them the perpetual 
guidance, protection, and friendship of Jehovah. 

But our text exhibits this relation in language still 
more animating and affecting to the pious heart. — 
" But as many as received him, to them gave he 
power to become the sons of God, even to them that 
believe on his name ;" — sons of God ; of that " high 



86 DISCOURSE VII. 

and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity ;" to whom 
belong the " greatness and the power, and the glo- 
ry and the victory, and the majesty for all that is in 
the heaven and in the earth is his ;" sons of God ; of 
that holy One " who is of purer eyes than to behold 
evil, and cannot look upon iniquity ;" " in whose 
sight the heavens are not clean, and whose angels 
he charge th with folly." Well may we exclaim 
with the Psalmist, " Lord, what is man that thou 
takest knowledge of him, or the son of man that 
thou makest account of him ?" and with the belov- 
ed disciple, " Behold, what manner of love the 
Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be 
called the sons of God !" 

Let us cherish, my brethren, these salutary emo- 
tions of pious wonder and filial gratitude, while we 
consider what it is for man to become a son of 
God. In attempting to elucidate this subject, I shall 
notice the past condition, the present character and 
privileges, and the future prospects of such as become 
sons of God. 

I. In the first place, as to the past condition of 
the sons of God ; they have been removed from the 
family of Satan, and are no longer children of the 
wicked one. " In this," saith the Scripture, " the 
children of God are manifest, and the children of 
the devil : whosoever doeth not righteousness is 
not of God." " He that committeth sin is of the 
devil." 



DISCOURSE VII. 87 

It is indeed a melancholy and ought to be to us 
all an alarming truth, that they who are enemies to 
God by wicked works ; who feel not towards him 
the submissive, dependent, and obedient temper of 
children ; who refuse to receive the unspeakable 
gift of salvation through Jesus Christ, are sons of 
the great adversary of souls, " the prince of the 
power of the air, the spirit that worketh in the chil- 
dren of disobedience." What an odious parentage 
is this, so much to resemble, both in disposition and 
conduct, the chief of apostate spirits, the grand 
enemy of God and of all good, as to deserve the 
title of his children ! 

Think not, my hearers, that this language savours 
too much of severity and invective. Even he who 
was the Friend of sinners, and who laid down his 
life for them, once said to certain of the Jews, " Ye 
are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your 
father ye will do." " If God were your Father, ye 
would love me." And if God were thy Father, 
fellow-sinner, thou wouldest love his Son — thou 
wouldest repose all thy con6dence in him as thine 
only Saviour and thine only hope. So long as thou 
refusest to do this, thou art of thy father the devil, 
and the lusts of thy father thou wilt do. He, there- 
fore, who becomes a son of God, must first cease to 
be a child of the wicked one. 

II. Then we consider, in the second place, the 
preset character and privileges of the sons of God, 
we remark that they become such by being born 



88 DISCOURSE VII. 

" not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the 
will of man, but of God." Such is the emphatical 
language which Scripture employs to illustrate, by 
a striking metaphor, that mighty transformation of 
moral character effected by the Spirit of God alone, 
in the heart of the sinner. 

It is a birth — that is, the commencement of a new 
and spiritual life — constituting a most intimate and 
affecting relation between the subjects of it and its 
Author. By it, they become his sons in a peculiar 
and appropriate sense : for they are made partakers 
of his Divine nature. They are conformed to the 
image of his First Born, even of him who is the 
brightness of the Father's glory, and the express 
image of his person. They enjoy a communion 
with the Father and the Son, the closeness of which 
is described in the memorable prayer of our Sav- 
iour for his disciples : " Neither pray I for these 
alone, but for them also which shall believe on me 
through their word ; that they all may be one ; as 
thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also 
may be one in us." In the like manner it is said, 
" Every one that loveth, is born of God ;" that is, a 
son of God possesses, though in a very imperfect 
degree, the same divine benevolence by which God 
himself is preeminently characterised, when he is 
styled " Love." Hence, also, the peculiar force and 
propriety of those precepts which are given to be- 
lievers on account of the resemblance between them 
and their Heavenly Father ; " Be ye, therefore, fol- 
lowers of God, as dear children." " Be ye, there- 



DISCOURSE VII. 89 

fore, merciful, as your Father also is merciful." — * 
" Love your enemies, that ye may be the children 
of your Father which is in heaven." " Be ye, 
therefore, perfect, even as your Father which is in 
heaven is perfect." 

To be a son of God, then, is to be born of God, 
and to be made a partaker of the Divine nature. 

2. The sons of God become such by being adop- 
ted into his own family : for although once they 
were " aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and 
strangers to the covenant of promise ; having no 
hope, and without God in the world ;" yet now 
they " are no more strangers and foreigners, but 
fellow-citizens of the saints and of the household of 
God." They are made members of a happy com- 
munity, which, even here on earth, has some fore- 
taste of that peace, and love, and joy, which will 
glow with unsullied and perpetual ardour in the 
breasts of the general assembly and church of the 
first-born in heaven. They esteem one another as 
brethren, their hearts being knit together in love ; 
having one common Father, trusting in the same 
Saviour, espousing the same cause, cheered by the 
same promises, animated by the same hopes, and 
looking forward to the same mansions of eternal 
rest, which Christ their Elder Brother has gone be- 
fore to prepare for all his followers. 

3. The sons of God, on the other hand, enjoy 
from his bounty the choicest privileges ; his spirit 
bearing witness with their spirits that they are in- 
deed his children. Nor is this done by any imme- 

12 



90 DISCOURSE VII. 

diate revelation of his love to them ; by any influ 
ence supernatural in such a sense as to be clearly 
distinguished from the operation of their own minds ; 
by any communication of such miraculous gifts 
and graces as were common in the first ages of the 
church ; but by infusing into the soul that deep 
sorrow and contrition for sin, that sincere and hear- 
ty repentance, that humble though strong reliance 
upon Christ, that filial and reverential love toward 
God, that ardent charity toward all men, and that 
faithful diligence in good works which afford satis- 
factory evidence to their possessor that he is truly a 
son of God. 

Nor think, my brethren, that I wish to deprive 
you of the earnest of your inheritance, the Divine 
consolation of the assurance that you have passed 
from death unto life : for what assurance can be 
stronger, nay, what other can stand the test of God's 
word, than to discover in ourselves that holy temper 
and conduct which are the genuine fruits of the 
Spirit, which no other influence but his can produce, 
and without which all our pretensions to the title of 
sons of God are but as " sounding brass or a tink- 
ling cymbal ?" 

4. Those, again, who become sons of God are 
under his peculiar guidance : " for as many as are 
led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." 

And how necessary, my brethren, is such a heav- 
enlv light to cheer and illuminate and direct our 
path through the wilderness of this world to the Ca- 
naan of eternal rest ! He who has learned, by an 



DISCOURSE VII. 91 

acquaintance with himself, how much sin hath 
darkened the understanding of man, and what a 
moral midnight broods over all his intellectual fac- 
ulties ; how will he hail the " day-dawn and the 
day-star arising in his heart," and rejoice that " God, 
who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, 
hath shined in his heart, to give the light of the 
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus 
Christ !" And sensible of his remaining blindness 
and ignorance, weakness and guilt, he will still look 
to this Divine Instructor for all needful wisdom and 
grace, and continually say, with the Psalmist, " Lord 
teach me to do thy will ; for thou art my God : 
thy Spirit is good ; lead me into the land of up- 
rightness. 5 ' 

5. Further, God frees believers from the spirit of 
bondage, introducing them into " the glorious lib- 
erty of the sons of God ;" and because they are 
sons, he sends forth " the Spirit of his Son into their 
hearts, crying, Abba, Father." This Spirit helpeth 
their infirmities ; and when they have aught to pre- 
sent at the Throne of Grace, either the tribute of 
filial gratitude, or their supplications for paternal 
support and deliverance, it maketh intercession for 
them, with groanings which cannot be uttered. — 
And soothing beyond expression, my brethren, are 
those aspirations of fiducial confidence which often 
rise to heaven from the secret sanctuary of the pious 
heart. When the trials of life, the assaults of the 
adversary, or the pangs of a wounded conscience, 
overwhelm the mind of the Christian with gloomy 



92 DISCOURSE VII. 

despondency and fearful foreboding, very consoling 
is it to know that he has an Almighty Friend, 
to whom he can cry, " Abba, Father !" and say 
with one in like affliction, " Be merciful unto me, 
O God ! be merciful unto me ; for my soul trust- 
eth in thee : yea, in the shadow of thy wings 
will I make my refuge, until these calamities be 
overpast." 

Speak, ye who best can tell ; ye eider brethren 
of the household of the saints ; ye who have almost 
finished your earthly pilgrimage, and whose feet 
just press the threshold of your wished-for home, 
even " that building of God, that house not made 
with hands, eternal in the heavens ;" — say, for what 
you would exchange that Spirit of Adoption which 
has enabled you amid the many vicissitudes of life — 
so full, perhaps, of cares, and anxieties, and distres- 
ses — to forget all your sorrow, to raise the cry of 
" Abba, Father, 5 ' and to find perfect peace, because 
your minds were stayed upon God. For what, thou 
aged saint ! bending beneath the burden of thine 
infirmities ; on whose memory the iron hand of 
Time has engraven the just complaint of the Wise 
Man, " Vanity of vanities, all is vanity ;" whose 
heart hath now shut every avenue against that world 
from which it once derived some transitory enjoy- 
ment, because the " evil days have come, and the 
years drawn nigh which have no pleasure in them ;" 
for what wouldst thou exchange that Spirit of 
Adoption which enables thee to lift thy trembling 
eye to Heaven, and to say, with a sweet assurance 



DISCOURSE VII. 93 

of being heard and answered, " Now also, when I 
am old and grey-headed, O God ! forsake me not, 
until I have shewed thy strength unto this genera- 
tion, and thy power unto every one that is to come ?" 
For what would the departing soul, just taking its 
flight to the other world ; its eye shedding its last 
ray of serene lustre on the weeping friends who sur- 
round it ; its faultering lips whispering their last ac- 
cents of praise ; for what would it exchange that 
Spirit of Adoption which enables it, in this trying 
season, to triumph over the king of terrors, and to 
say, " Yea, though I walk through the valley of the 
shadow of death, I will fear no evil ; for thou, Lord, 
art with me : thy rod and thy staff they comfort 
me ?» 

III. We notice, lastly, my brethren, with regard 
to the future prospects of such as become sons of 
God, that death, which fills the heart of the sinner 
with dismay, discloses to the child of God his 
brightest views, and ushers him into the enjoyment 
of his choicest privileges. By it his spirit, freed 
from its tabernacle of clay, ascends to God, the 
Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made 
perfect. In this blessed society, satisfied with the 
fulness of joy flowing from the presence of his God 
and Saviour, his heart glowing with filial gratitude 
toward the Author of his salvation, and with broth- 
erly love to all his associates in happiness, he awaits, 
with delightful anticipation, the august solemnities 
of the final dav. 



94 DISCOURSE VII. 

And when that day shall arrive — a day to be for 
ever so illustrious in the annals of the universe ; 
bringing a final catastrophe to all the events which 
have taken place in this lower world ; displaying 
the character of God, so awful in justice, and so at- 
tractive in mercy ; filling his friends with joy and 
his foes with terror, and consummating the glorious 
work of the Redeemer — then shall the children of 
God be recognized before an assembled universe, 
and be formally invested with every privilege, as 
sons of their Heavenly Father. 

What these privileges shall be, in their proper 
character and full extent, we are not able to say : 
but the Scriptures communicate enough on this 
subject to fill the pious heart with the most sublime 
emotions of hope and joy. Such is that passage : 
" Beloved, now are we the sons of God ; and it doth 
not yet appear what we shall be ; but we know 
that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him ; 
for we shall see him as he is." From this and the 
like declarations we know, that God's children are 
the children of the resurrection ; that their bodies, 
which are now corruptible, shall put on incorrup- 
tion; that, as they have borne the image of the 
earthy, they shall also bear the image of the heav- 
enly. " For when Christ their life shall appear- 
then shall they also appear with him in glory." — 
u He shall change their vile body, that it may be 
fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to 
the working whereby he is able to subdue all things 
unto himself." Invested with this pure and spirit- 






DISCOURSE VII. 95 

ual receptacle, fresh with immortal youth and beau 
ty, and fitted for all the operations and for all the 
enjoyments of a holy intelligence, the sons of God, 
after receiving the approving sentence of the Judge, 
shall enter upon the inheritance of the kingdom 
prepared for them from the foundation of the \Vorld. 
Of the value of this kingdom we can form some 
faint conception from the consideration, that it is 
the same which Christ himself receives, who, for 
the suffering of death, is crowned with glory and 
honour : for he himself hath promised, " To him 
that overcometh will I grant to sit with me on my 
throne ; even as I also overcame, and am set down 
with my Father on his throne." Thus does our 
Saviour receive this kingdom on account of the 
accomplishment of his mediatorial work. This was 
the joy set before him, for which he endured the 
cross and despised the shame. And the degrees of 
his reward we are to estimate from that shame and 
that humiliation ; from his condescending to divest 
himself of that glory which he had with the Father 
before the world was ; from his stooping to assume 
the form of a servant, and to be born in the likeness 
of sinful flesh ; from all the ignominy and reproach 
which he endured during life, and from the agony 
of his death. How precious the inheritance bought 
at this dear rate, and with sacrifices like these ! 

Thus, my hearers, have J attempted to illustrate 
the topic proposed at the commencement of my 
discourse, by exhibiting to you the past condition. 



96 DISCOURSE VII. 

the present character and privileges, and the future 
prospects of the sons of God. 

And now let us notice how pertinent and striking 
is the metaphor contained in onr text, which repre- 
sents God as a Father, and believers as his children. 
— Truly he is their Father, in a sense the most en- 
dearing and affecting. He rescues them from the 
family and service of Satan ; he transforms them 
into his own image, and makes them partakers of 
his own Divine nature 5 he and his Son enter into a 
most intimate communion with them ; he adopts 
them into the household of the saints, his chosen 
family ; his Spirit beareth witness with their spirits 
that they are indeed his children ; he takes them 
under his peculiar guidance and direction ; he gives 
them the temper of full reliance on his parental 
goodness : he is their support through life ; their 
death is precious in his sight 5 and he at last leads 
them to their eternal home, making them joint-heirs 
with Christ of that " inheritance which is incorrup- 
tible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away." 

Surely these are exalted privileges to be confer- 
red upon beings that dwell in houses of clay, whose 
foundation is in the dust, who are crushed before 
the moth ! 

But how is our wonder enhanced, and how ought 
our deepest gratitude to be awakened, when we 
consider them as bestowed on beings who are sin- 
ners ; who, like the Prodigal in the parable, have 
wandered far from their Father's house, have fas- 
tened their affections upon the low pleasures of the 



DISCOURSE Vlf. 97 

world, have lost all claim to the title of sons, and 
have forfeited by their rebellion the protection and 
friendship of God ! That he should offer to such 
beings the high destiny of becoming his sons is 
an illustrious and affecting proof, that he is a God 
ready to pardon, slow to anger, and of great kind- 
ness. 

Oh ! be touched with this 3 thou who art still a 
stranger from the covenants of promise, having no 
hope, and without God in the world ! Now imitate 
the penitent Prodigal ; feel all his deep compunc- 
tion and ingenuous sorrow ; and, in the spirit of 
sincere and hearty repentance, say, " I will arise, 
and go to my Father, and say unto him. Father, 1 
have sinned against Heaven and in thy sight, and am 
no more worthy to be called thy son." And be as- 
sured, if thou thus return with a broken heart and 
a contrite spirit, humbled under a sense of guilt, 
and reposing all thy hopes of pardon on the mercy of 
God, through Jesus Christ, thou shalt be met with 
forgiveness and reconciliation ; thou shalt be inves- 
ted with the Divine love and favour ; thou shalt 
become truly a Son of God, and be made a parte. 
ker of the inheritance of the saints in liffht. 



13 



DISCOURSE VIII 



JOHN XIV. 1. 

Let not your heart be troubled : ye believe in God 7 
believe also in me. 

From these words I propose, my brethren, at this 
time to direct your thoughts to Jesus, " the Conso- 
lation of Israel ;" and what an object of delightful 
vision to the eye of faith is Jesus Christ ! In him 
dwells all that is admirable in excellence, and at- 
tractive in loveliness : for he is the " brightness of 
the Father's glory, and the express image of his 
person." They who saw him while on earth, " be- 
held his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of 
the Father, full of grace and truth." They who 
shall see him in heaven, will behold him clothed in 
ineffable splendor, " seated on the right hand of the 
Majesty on high, swaying the sceptre of universal 
empire, victorious over all his enemies, and dispen- 
sing to his friends an immortality of life and peace 
and joy. But we, my brethren, who yet " see 
through a glass darkly," can only behold him as 
delineated by the pencil of sacred history. The 
Evangelists have given us his portrait. Though 



DISCOURSE VIII. 



99 



iaint, it is faithful : and the more minutely we ex- 
amine the lineaments of our blessed Master, the 
more shall we have to admire in them the beauti- 
ful symmetry and grace of perfect moral excellence, 
and the constant beaming forth of that Divine lustre 
which irradiated him in whom " dwelt bodily all 
the fulness of the Godhead." And if, while we 
thus admire, we also believe and trust and love, 
then shall " we all, with open face beholding as in 
a glass the glory of the Lord, be changed into the 
same image from glory to glory, even as by the 
Spirit of the Lord." Then shall we be entitled to the 
animating benediction of our Saviour, u Blessed are 
they that have not seen and yet have believed." — 
Thus to assimilate you to Jesus Christ, and thus to 
revive and enliven your confidence in his promises, 
I propose, my brethren, to direct your attention to 
a very interesting scene of his life, which took place 
on the night immediately preceding his crucifixion. 
For several nights previous he had made the mount of 
Olives, and especially the village of Bethany, which 
was situated at its foot about two miles east of Je- 
rusalem, his occasional retreat from the daily toils 
and dangers of his ministry in the city. It was 
there that he supped with his friend Lazarus, while 
Martha served, and Mary anointed his feet with 
spikenard " against the day of his burying." It 
was there that Satan entered into the heart of Ju- 
das, and led him to form, and soon to execute, the 
diabolical purpose of betraying his Lord. It was 
there that our Saviour disclosed to his disciples the 



100 DISCOURSE via. 

immediate prospect of his sufferings and death. It 
was thence that he sent Peter and John to Jerusa- 
lem to make ready the last passover which he would 
commemorate with his beloved flock. They obey- 
ed his directions, and prepared the feast in a large 
upper chamber, which had been furnished for this 
purpose. In this room, retired from the gaze of the 
multitude, and secure for a short season from their 
violence, our Saviour engaged with his little band 
of followers in a solemn and devout act of social 
worship. They partook of the Paschal Supper in 
strict obedience to the Jewish law, for thus it beho- 
ved them to fulfil all righteousness. Here Jesus 
taught his disciples the sweet grace of humility, by 
checking their ambitious contest for superiority, and 
still more forcibly by condescending himself to wash 
their feet. Here, with much emotion, he predicted 
the treachery of Judas. Here he exhorted his 
disciples to mutual love. Here he foretold the fall 
of Peter. Here he instituted that symbolical rite 
of his religion which we still celebrate in grateful 
remembrance of its Founder, and which " shews 
forth his death until he come." Here, and on his 
way to the garden of Gethsemane, whither he soon 
resorted with his disciples, he consoled them with 
many M great and precious promises," under the 
dismaying prospect of soon losing their beloved 
Lord and Master. At the same time, (that is, soon 
after leaving Jerusalem, and probably near the 
Mount of Olives,) " he lifted up his eyes to heaven" 
and prayed, with all the ardour of paternal affection. 



DISCOURSE VIII. 



10! 



for his disciples ; and not for them only, but for all 
his followers — For us, my brethren, if we are among 
that happy number. 

Such were some of the most striking incidents 
which marked that interesting scene of our Sa- 
viour's parting interview with his disciples. For, 
alas ! soon after this, Judas betrayed him, and they 
all fled. And now, how true and forcible does the 
declaration of St. John appear ! " When Jesus 
knew that his hour was come, that he should de- 
part out of this world unto the Father, having loved 
his own which were in the world, he loved them 
unto the end." It was this affectionate regard of 
Christ for his disciples which formed the most 
conspicuous trait of the scene I have just been 
describing. It was this which led him to utter the 
words of our text : " Let not your hearts be troub- 
led : ye believe in God, believe also in me." And 
it is this, my brethren, to which I am anxious to 
direct your earnest attention, by considering, first, 
The sources of that anxiety which filled the hearts 
of the Apostles ; and, secondly, The various conso- 
lations which our Saviour afforded them. 



I. Let us consider the sources of that anxiety 
which filled the hearts of the Apostles. These 
were various, and all calculated to overwhelm them 
with grief and dismay. 

During the paschal supper Jesus was u troubled 
in spirit," and said, " Verily I say unto you, that 
one of you shall betray me. And they were ex 



102 DISCOURSE VIII. 

ceeding sorrowful, and began every one of them to 
say, Lord, is it I ?" " They were exceeding sor- 
rowful ;" trembling, no doubt, each one, at the 
possibility of being abandoned of God, to the weak- 
ness of their own resolution, to the force of powerful 
temptations, and thus to the dreadful guilt of trai- 
torously delivering up their Lord to his enemies. 
They were sorrowful thus to learn that their little 
band contained so hardened and desperate a sinner. 
What disgrace would it cast on their whole body ! 
How would the world scoff at their Divine Master ; 
impiously questioning, on the one hand, his wisdom 
in selecting for an intimate friend so base and 
faithless a miscreant, and, on the other, the truth of 
his Messiahship, thus to be betrayed by one who 
had enjoyed the best opportunity of becoming ac- 
quainted with his real character ! They were ex- 
ceeding sorrowful at the pain which such treach- 
ery would give to Jesus. They mingled their grief 
with his. To be betrayed by one on whom he had 
conferred the dignity of an Apostle, to whom he had 
entrusted the treasury of himself and flock, and 
whom he had always treated with gracious conde- 
scension and love ! How must such diabolical in- 
gratitude have wrung the heart of the mild and 
affectionate Jesus ! no doubt his countenance dis- 
closed the emotions of his troubled spirit. The 
disciples, sympathising with his affliction, " were 
exceeding sorrowful." 

Again ; Christ had told them that Satan had 
desired to have them, that he might sift them as 



DISCOURSE VIII, 



103 



wheat. He even predicted their temporary defec- 
tion in these words — " All ye shall be offended 
because of me this night : for it is written, I will 
smite the Shepherd and the sheep shall be scatter- 
ed." This, and the certainty of Peter's disgraceful 
denial of his Lord, no doubt filled them with sorrow\ 
True, they all vehemently protested that they would 
rather die than deny their Master. But this very 
vehemence was the ardour of perturbation and 
anxiety. A moment's cool reflection would lead 
them to distrust themselves, to tremble and to 
grieve at the declaration of Christ. 

Again ; the prospect of our Saviour's speedy and 
ignominious death was to the disciples a source of 
fearful dread and sorrow. He had assured them of 
its certainty in the most explicit manner. They 
could have no hope of his escape from this awful 
and distressing scene. It was full in their view ; 
and its very horror was enhanced by the obscurity 
which yet hung over it, and by their ignorance 
of its design and consequences. It was near 
at hand, and they must soon feel its bitterness. 
Gloomy, indeed, were their apprehensions, and 
painful beyond description the emotions which 
now filled the breasts of the Apostles. They were 
about to lose the protection of an Almighty 
Friend ; of one who commanded the wave, and it 
was still ; who said, " Lazarus come forth," and 
the dead burst the bars of the tomb ; who had un- 
der his control all the powers of nature, and even 
the malevolent passions of wicked men. Beneath 



104 DISCOURSE VIII. 

the covert of his wing they had always felt safe and 
fearless. Left by him, a little flock, timid, forlorn, 
as sheep without a shepherd, they were about to be 
exposed to the scoffs and persecution of an insult- 
ing world. Yea, even our Saviour had told them, 
" the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will 
think that he doeth God service." Well might each 
one exclaim, in the bitterness of his soul, "My 
heart is sore pained within me : and the terrors of 
death are fallen upon me. Fearfulness and trem- 
bling are come upon me, and horror hath over- 
whelmed me." Thus, also, in one hour were to be 
blasted all their hopes of the establishment of the 
Messiah's kingdom upon earth: for, in common 
with their countrymen, they had entertained the 
thought, even till this time, that the Messiah would 
be a great temporal prince, the deliverer of their 
nation, the restorer of its ancient splendor and do- 
minion, and the monarch of the whole earth. 
They were even looking forward (alas ! such was 
their weak and wicked attachment to this world,) 
to posts of authority and honour under Jesus Christ 
Even in the very chamber where the passover was 
celebrated, " there was a strife among them, which 
of them should be accounted the greatest." Jesus 
rebuked their unhallowed contest, and afterwards 
explained to them, more fully than he had ever done 
before, the nature of his kingdom and the design of 
his death. Still they were men ; and although 
thus taugh the spirituality of that cause which they 
had espoused, great must have been their surprise 



DISCOURSE VLIJ, 



106 



cfnd disappointment at thus losing at once all 
hopes of what good men are too apt to covet, a 
share of worldly rank and honour. 

Further ; they were about to lose the immediate 
instruction of their divine Teacher. How often 
had they hung upon his lips, who spake as never 
man spake ! How often had they admired the 
dignity and majesty with which he spake ! How 
often had they wondered at the gracious words 
which proceeded out of his mouth, and felt aston- 
ishment at his understanding and answers ! How 
had all his precepts been recommended by their 
purity ; his reasoning by its force ; his parables 
by their aptness ; his reproofs by their mildness ; 
his warnings by their solemnity ; his manner of 
instruction by affability and condescension ; and 
his whole eloquence by a beautiful and sublime 
simplicity ! Let it be recollected that to them, 
too, " it was given to understand the mysteries 
of the kingdom." They were the babes, the igno- 
rant and unlettered men, to whom were revealed 
those sacred truths which are hid from the wise 
and prudent. And if there is a sacred satisfaction 
in having the eyes of the understanding purged 
from that film which sin hath spread over them, 
and opened to receive the pure and cheering 
beams of Divine truth ; to look abroad upon the 
moral world thus illuminated by the Light of Heav- 
en, and observe its beautiful order and harmony : 
then did this satisfaction eminently belong to the 
disciples of our Lord. How great, then, must have 
14 



106 DISCOURSE VIII. 

been their grief at the prospect of parting with hirn ? 
in whom were " hid all the treasures of wisdom 
and knowledge !" 

Again ; by the death of Christ his disciples 
would lose the holy pleasure which they enjoyed 
in contemplating a Pattern of perfect moral excel- 
lence, and of loving him who exhibited it with a 
pure and holy affection. Their hearts, indeed, had 
remains of selfishness and sin ; but they had been 
touched by Divine Grace. They knew what it 
was to love Jesus for his intrinsic worth. They 
saw in him the " glory as of the only begotten of 
the Father, full of grace and truth ;" and although 
their notions concerning his Divinity seem to have 
been for the most part imperfect and obscure till 
after his ascension, yet they saw the glimmerings 
of this truth, and felt that profound veneration and 
reverential love which it was calculated to inspire. 
Indeed, in the very chapter from which our text is 
taken, Jesus says to Philip, " He that hath seen me 
hath seen the Father : how sayest thou, then, Shew 
us the Father ? Believest thou not that I am in the 
Father and the Father in me ? The disciples, there- 
fore, no doubt took a complacent delight — a delight 
of the same kind with that which pervades the 
breasts of the redeemed in heaven — in contemplat- 
ing the spotless purity and excellence, the Divine 
perfection and majesty, of our Saviour's character. 
This object of their veneration and love was soon 
to be removed from their sight, and in a way, too, 
which seemed to them most awful and mysterious. 



DISCOURSE VIII. 107 

The Messiah, the expected Deliverer of his people, 
the Desire of all nations — he who their scriptures 
taught them was " the mighty God, the everlasting 
Father, the Prince of Peace" — was about to be 
delivered into the hands of wicked men, and to 
suffer a most cruel and ignominious death. What 
perplexity and doubt, what grief and dismay, what 
fear and horror must have seized upon their minds ! 
Such was the disconsolate situation of the disciple? 
on the night immediately preceding the crucifixion 
of their Lord. It called for all his compassion. 
He was ready to afford it. He bound up their 
broken hearts ^ and this, too, at a time when his 
own soul was agonizing at the prospect of his 
approaching sufferings. Yes, my brethren, he neg- 
lected his own sorrow, that he might sooth their's : 
" having loved his own, he loved them unto the 
end. 55 

II. This brings me to the second head of my 
discourse, which is to exhibit the various consola- 
tions that our Saviour afforded his disciples. " Let 
not your heart be troubled : ye believe in God, 
believe also in me." Confidence in himself— -in 
his power, his wisdom and his goodness — even 
that same implicit trust which they reposed in God, 
he proposes to them as the only sure foundation of 
peace to their distracted souls. To convince them 
of his title to this confidence, and to encourage 
them to its cordial and unreserved exercise, he 
gives them " exceeding great and precious promi 



108 DISCOURSE VIII. 

ses,"and unfolds to them the nature of" his kingdom, 
and the design and consequences of his death. 
Let us attend to these topics more particularly. 
He encourages them under the prospect of per- 
sonal suffering, by shewing them, that in this they 
will but share the fate of their Master, and " suffer 
for righteousness sake." " If they have persecuted 
me, they will also persecute you. If ye were of 
the world, the world would love his own ; but be- 
cause ye are not of the world, but I have chosen 
you out of the world, therefore the world hateth 
you." " In the world ye shall have tribulation : 
but be of good cheer ; I have overcome the world." 
Clad, therefore, for the conflict, with the armour of 
conscious rectitude, they might fearlessly follow, 
even to death, the great Captain of their salvation, 
who was to be made " perfect through suffering," 
and to obtain a complete victory over all his ene- 
mies — " spoiling principalities and powers, making 
a shew of them openly, and triumphing over them." 
Fully able, therefore, would he be to afford them 
his continual protection and support. And this he 
promised them — " I will not leave you comfortless ; 
I will come to you." " If a man love me, he will 
keep my words ; and my Father will love him, and 
we will come unto him and make our abode with 
him." With God, therefore, and his Son occupying 
their hearts, truly the disciples had need to fear no 
evil. Go forth, then, ye little flock ! " For I am 
persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, 
pox principalities, nor powers, nor things present. 






DISCOURSE Till. 109 

nor things to come ; nor height, nor depth, nor any 
other creature, shall be able to separate you from the 
love of God, which is in Christ Jesus your Lord." 
" Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel ; 
I will keep thee, saith the Lord, and thy Redeemer, 
the Holy One of Israel." " The Lord is with you, 
as a mighty terrible one ; therefore your persecu- 
tors shall tremble, and they shall not prevail ; they 
shall be greatly ashamed, for they shall not pros- 
per ; their everlasting confusion shall never be for- 
gotten." 

Besides, our Saviour taught his disciples, that 
these very afflictions which they dreaded would 
serve to purify them ; that their trials would wean 
their affections from this world, and " work out for 
them a far more exceeding and eternal weight of 
glory." " I am the true vine, and my Father is the 
husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth 
not fruit, he taketh away : and every branch thai 
beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth 
more fruit." 

Again ; Christ promised the Apostles, that thev 
should be invested with the power of working mir- 
acles, even greater than those which he wrought, 
and that " whatsoever they should ask in his name, 
that would he do, that the Father might be glorified 
i,n the Son." With these divine resources — calcu 
lated, on the one hand, to command in some good 
degree the respect and dread of their enemies, and, 
on the other, to inspire the disciples with confidence 
in that God who heareth prayer, nnd furnishes grace 



110 DISCOURSE VIII. 

and strength equal to the day of trial — they had 
good reason to banish all fear and despondency 
from their minds. 

Further; they were assured by Christ, that after 
his departure he would send unto them, from the 
Father, another Comforter, even the Holy Ghost, 
the Spirit of Truth. This Divine Agent, they were 
taught, would supply the bodily presence of their 
Lord. He would testify of Christ : he would teach 
them all things, and bring all things to their re- 
membrance. He would give them " a mouth and 
wisdom, which all their adversaries should not be 
able to gainsay or resist." He would fortify them 
against the trials to which they might be exposed. 
He would inspire them with hope and peace in 
believing, and cheer them all their way through 
this thorny world, to those peaceful mansions 
" where the wicked cease from troubling, and the 
weary are at rest." 

Again ; our Saviour took special care to convince 
the disciples, that his death was voluntary, and in 
strict accordance with the purposes of God — and 
to unfold to them, in some degree, its design and 
consequences. Thus he endeavoured to do away, 
in their minds, the " offence of his cross." " I 
came forth from the Father, and am come into the 
world : again I leave the world, and go to the 
Father." " Truly the Son of man goeth as it was 
determined." " Greater love hath no man than 
this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." 
Li Nevertheless, I tell you the truth ; it is expedient 



DISCOURSE VIII. Ill 

for you that I go away." " Tn my Father's house 
are many mansions : if it were not so, I would have 
told you. I go to prepare a place for you : and if 
I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again 
and receive you unto myself; that where I am, 
there ye may be also." " Because I live, ye shall 
live also." 

Thus did he with the most assiduous condescen 
sion, dispel the perplexity of their minds. Thus 
did he pierce the cloud of portentous obscurity 
which overshaded the mount of crucifixion, and 
through its parted gloom reveal to the eye of Faith 
the bright regions of immortal bliss. 

Such were the consolations which our Saviour 
afforded his disciples in the hour of anguish. Yes, 
said he, with lips breathing comfort most tender 
and soothing — " These things I have spoken unto 
you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world 
ye shall have tribulation : but be of good cheer ; I 
have overcome the world." " Peace I leave with 
you — my peace I give unto you ; not as the world 
giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be 
troubled, neither let it be afraid." 

Thus, my Christian brethren, I have exhibited 
to you, though in a very imperfect manner, a most 
endearing trait of our Saviour's character, which 
shone forth so conspicuously on the night imme- 
diately preceding his crucifixion. You have seen 
pourtrayed the affectionate regard of Christ for his 
disciples in the cheering nature of the consolations 
which he afforded them. Mark, I pray you, thesr 



112 DISCOURSE VI11. 

things. " Set your hearts unto all the words which 
I testify among you this day : for it is not a vain 
thing for you, because it is your life." This com- 
passionate Saviour still lives. " Ye have a great 
High Priest that is passed into the heavens — Jesus 
the Son of God." " He can be touched with the 
feeling of your infirmities : for he was in all points 
tempted like as ye are, yet without sin." " He is 
able to save them to the uttermost that come unto 
God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make inter- 
cession for them." Never, then, let your heart be 
troubled, neither let it be afraid. Never : — not 
under the pressure of your past guilt : " Christ hath 
redeemed you to God by his blood :" — not when 
beset with temptation : " he is able to succour them 
that are tempted :" — not when called to great trials 
of affliction : rejoice the rather, " inasmuch as ye 
are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that when his 
glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with 
exceeding joy :" — not on the bed of death : he 
" became obedient unto death, even the death of 
the cross ;" that " he might destroy him that had 
the power of death ; that is, the devil ; and deliver 
them, who, through fear of death, were all their 
life-time subject to bondage." When you pass 
through the last scene of suffering, fear no evil. — 
a The Lord shall be with you, his rod and his staff 
shall comfort you." The hope of soon being with 
Christ, and of seeing him as he is, shall be to you 
u as an anchor to the soul, both sure and stedfast." 
a Never, then, let your heart be troubled, neither 



DISCOURSE VIIL 110 

iet it be afraid ;" " for all things are yours : wheth- 
er life or death, or things present or things to come s 
all are yours ; and ye are Christ's ; and Christ is 
God's." 

Such, my brethren, are the strong consolations 
which the Saviour now affords to all who put their 
trust in him. And does he afford them, as he once 
did, to fortify his disciples against insult and perse- 
cution — -against imprisonment and death ? Are they 
now necessary to cheer the heart of the Christian at 
midnight, in his dungeon, that he may sing praises 
to his God ; to make serene the soul of the martyr, 
that, when stoned to death, he may calmly resign 
his spirit to Jesus, and pray for his very murderers ? 

No, my brethren : " the lines have fallen to us in 
pleasant places ; we enjoy a goodly heritage." Our 
religion has not now to dread the dungeon or the 
stake. The little Galilean band has become a 
mighty people. Christianity is honourable in the 
earth. Its present triumphs are astonishing. It has 
swayed momentous decisions, regarding its dearest 
interests, in the legislative halls of the most power- 
ful European nation. " Kings have become its 
nursing-fathers, and queens its nursing-mothers." — 
The day is already dawning when Jesus shall take 
to himself his great power ; " and the kingdom, and 
dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom, under 
the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of 
the saints of the Most High." 

Few and insignificant, then, my brethren, are 
your trials when compared with those of the Apos- 

15 



114 DISCOURSE VIII. 

ties. And yet you have consolations strong as 
their's. Who hath thus made you to differ ? Who 
is it that thus requires, as the test of your obedience, 
not that you should lay down your life for his sake, 
but that you cherish his graces in your hearts ; that 
you adorn his doctrines by your life ; that you keep 
yourselves " unspotted from the world ;" that you 
act with faithful and zealous industry in dispensing 
the benefits of his Gospel to " all who are ready to 
perish"— to your families, your friends, your neigh- 
bours, your country, and the world ? Who calls you 
to this delightful service ? Who promises you, as 
the reward of it, " a crown of glory that fadeth not 
away ?" Who has provided for you, in all the trials 
and difficulties you may have to encounter, the 
most abundant consolation and support ? It is Jesus 
Christ — still the affectionate Saviour — still loving 
his own even unto the end. To him, then, render 
the entire homage of your hearts. Let your obedi- 
ence to his precepts, and your attachment to his 
cause, be the proof of your love and gratitude. So 
shall he guide you safely through the pilgrimage of 
this world, to the holy city above. There shall he 
" feed you, and shall lead you unto the living foun- 
tains of waters, and God shall wipe away all tears 
from your eyes." 



DISCOURSE IX. 



coloss. iii. 23. 



And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily as to the Lord, 
and not unto men. 

A very considerable restraint is imposed upon 
the conduct of men by a regard to their own safety 
and convenience in this world. Not a few feel with- 
in their breasts the ragings of lust, envy, avarice, 
ambition, malice, revenge, or rapine ; and would 
delight to gratify these passions in their full scope, 
were they not deterred from it by the dread of lo- 
sing property, reputation, or life. Some who are 
called by the world " very good and very honest 
men ;" who are kind, industrious, benevolent, and 
honourable ; who pass gently through life, enjoying 
a full share of respect and confidence ; even some 
of these are all the while playing a part — mere hyp- 
ocrites, who fear not God, nor regard man, except 
so far as is agreeable to their own private interest. 

Nay, my hearers ! this sad degeneracy of human 
nature does not stop here ; for it is found even 
among Christians : and the most pious are some 
times actuated by motives which they would blush 



116 DISCOURSE IX. 

to acknowledge before the world. So true it is, 
that all morality is defective without piety toward 
God ; and that a fair external decorum may exist, 
as the pharisaical righteousness of old, beautiful 
perhaps to the eye, but, like a whited sepulchre, 
concealing a mass of death and putrefaction. The 
fact is, there is no right conduct ; none that is ac- 
ceptable in the sight of God ; none that is worthy 
of our confidence and love, but what proceeds from 
a heart renewed and sanctified by the Holy Spirit 
And so long as we direct our intercourse among our 
fellow-men merely by what are called the rules of 
common honesty and morality ; so long as we keep 
out of view our allegiance to the dread Sovereign of 
the universe, in the most minute concerns and 
duties of life ; so long, in fine, as we remain unre- 
newed in the temper of our minds, and neglect to 
act from a principle of love to God, and to the 
souls of those around us ; so long, let our external 
deportment be what it may, we are building our 
hopes of safety upon the sand, and have reason to 
fear lest we meet with final and irremediable des- 
truction. These solemn truths are every where 
inculcated in Scripture ; but in no part of it more 
explicitly and forcibly than in our text : " What- 
soever ye do, do it heartily as to the Lord, and not 
unto men. 5 ' While we attempt to discover the true 
import of this command, may the Spirit of Truth 
enable us to examine ourselves most faithfully, to 
see whether we do indeed recognise its authority, 
;ind conform our conduct to its holy requisitions ! 



DISCOURSE IX. 117 

I propose to consider very briefly, 1st the circum- 
stances under which the words of the text were 
written, and the character of those to whom they 
were addressed : 2dly, to examine the nature of the 
command which they contain ; and 3dly, The ex- 
tent of this command. 

I. Let us consider the circumstances under which 
the text was written, and the character of those to 
whom it was addressed. — St. Paul was visited, near 
the close of his first confinement at Rome, by 
Ephaphras, a member of the church planted at 
Colosse. From him the Apostle learned the condi- 
tion of the Christians in that large and flourishing 
city. They had, most probably, received the rudi- 
ments of the religion of Jesus from Paul himself, 
and were converted by his preaching, to the faith. 
He felt, no doubt, a lively interest in their welfare. 
He saw them like a handful of corn upon the top of 
the mountains ; a weak and defenceless band in 
the midst of a vast pagan people. To animate and 
encourage them in their Christian course, and to 
guard them against falling into error and temptation, 
he sends them the Epistle from which the text is 
taken. In drawing it to a close, he is mindful to 
enjoin upon them the importance of a strict atten- 
tion to all the duties which they owed to their fel- 
low-men ; for he well knew that the religion 
which he taught was a religion of kindness and 
love, serving not only to prepare men for the future 
world ; but also in this, enabling them to adorn 



118 DISCOURSE *X. 

their several stations and conditions in life with the 
graces of an honest, upright, and benevolent de- 
meanour. In this advice he did not overlook the 
lowest of his fellow Christians. " Servants," says 
he, u obey in all things your masters according to 
the flesh ; not with eye-service, as men pleas- 
ers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God : and 
whatsoever ye do, do it heartily as to the Lord, and 
not unto men, knowing that of the Lord ye shall 
receive the reward of the inheritance ; for ye serve 
the Lord Christ." The persons thus addressed were 
slaves ; subject, no doubt, some of them to the 
tyranny of austere and cruel masters. Their occu- 
pation was of the most servile kind, yet the Apostle 
is careful to teach them, that it is not enough to reg- 
ulate their conduct by the coinmon rules of honesty 
and prudence. Whatsoever they do they must do 
it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men. 

II. I proceed to examine the nature of the com- 
mand in our text. 

In order the better to understand its true import, 
let us consider, first, what it forbids ; and, secondly, 
what it enjoins. 

It forbids us in general to do any thing as unto 
men ; that is, to act under any circumstances, with 
a mere regard to any influence of our fellow-men 
upon our safety or happiness. They can affect our 
temporal welfare in a thousand different ways : 
they can aid us by their friendship : they can injure 
us by their hatred : they can build up our worldly 



DISCOURSE IX. 119 

fortune by all the arts of patronage and support : 
they can load us with caresses in private life, and 
crown our reputation with honour. They can tram- 
ple us also under foot, and can consign us to poverty 
and shame. How hard is it, my brethren, to resist 
such mighty influences ; to rise superior to the fear 
or favour of man ; to acquire that Christian heroism 
and independence of character which will enable 
us to abandon, as mercenary and sinful, all motives 
of conduct terminating in a mere regard to our 
earthly comfort and security ! 

But let us consider, a little more particularly, 
what these motives are which our text forbids. 

1. It forbids, as a sinful motive of conduct, a 
regard to mere reciprocity of interest.— -One act of 
kindness, according to the maxims of the world, 
deserves a return of favour. What think you, my 
brethren, is the extent of this principle ? How many 
make it their sole rule of intercourse with their fel- 
low-men ! How few are free from its influence ! 
How many kind words and actions, adorned with the 
shew of disinterested love and affection, are dealt 
out, like the goods of traffic, on the mere score of 
barter ! An equivalent must be paid for them — 
— good measure too, pressed down, and shaken to- 
gether, and running over. 

But how different a lesson of conduct did our 
Saviour enjoin upon his followers ! Hear his own 
words — " Give to him that asketh thee ; and from 
him that would borrow of thee, turn not thou away. 
Ye have heard that it hath been said. Thou ^halt 



120 DISCOURSE IX. 

love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy : but I 
say unto you, Love your enemies ; bless them that 
curse you ; do good to them that hate you, and 
pray for them which despitefully use you and per- 
secute you 5 that ye may be the children of your 
Father which is in heaven : for he maketh his sun 
to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain 
on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them 
which love you, what reward have ye ? Do not 
even the publicans the same ? And if ye salute 
your brethren only, what do ye more than others ? 
Do not even the publicans so ? Be ye therefore 
perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is 
perfect." 

2. Our text forbids, as a sinful motive of action, 
a mere regard to the reputation which our good 
conduct may procure us in the world. — There is a 
homage which vice pays to virtue. There is a fore- 
sight which calculates, on the mere principles of 
loss and gain, that apparent honesty is the best pol- 
icy. There is a prudence which is wise enough to 
cover the vilest passions of the breast with the sem- 
blance of virtue. There is a vanity which delights 
in the esteem of the good, and is willing to enjoy 
the reputation of moral worth, by preserving a fair 
outside. Indeed, it is to be feared, that many of 
those whom we call moral men — nay, that some 
who are deemed pious — maintain such appearances 
simply from a regard to their character. They 
know that public opinion is in favour of an honest 
and Christian demeanour; and they keep within 



DISCOURSE IX. 121 

the bounds of decency, or they affect activity in do- 
ing good, from a simple regard to their own private 
interest, and to enjoy the honour with which virtue 
is always adorned among the wise and goo'd. 

But here, again, listen to the words of our Saviour : 
the precept was given in reference to a particular 
class of external duties, but its spirit applies equally 
to all. " Take heed, that ye do not your alms 
before men, to be seen of them ; otherwise ye have 
no reward of your Father which is in heaven." 

3. Our text forbids, as a sinful motive of conduct, 
a mere regard to any evil which our fellow-men 
may inflict upon us. — The dread of human laws 
imposes no inconsiderable restraint upon the most 
abandoned. The jail and the gibbet are arrayed 
with terrors, which it is hard for those who are in 
fluenced by no principle of honesty or honor to 
resist. But, alas ! it is not only among the dregs 
of human society that we find men governed by 
this servile spirit of fear : its operations are more 
extensive than one would at first imagine. The 
dread of shame or disgrace is felt by all ranks of 
men, and produces no inconsiderable share of that 
external decorum which we observe in the world. 
In proof of this, let us look, my hearers, into our own 
hearts. How often do we ask ourselves the question 
— " What will be thought and said of this or that 
course of conduct ? Conscience and duty impel 
me to it ; but if I pursue it, shall I not be injured 
in my property, reputation, or life r" On the other 
hand, how often does inclination prompt to sin, 

16 



i%% discourse: ix, 

while nothing deters from the commission of it but 
the fear of man ! " Public opinion will in this be 
against me : on the whole, I shall lose even in my 
worldly interest by yielding to the suggestions of 
my sinful heart. I will choose the least of two 
evils, and abstain from the appearance of crime, 
that I may avoid disgrace or punishment." Such 
motives, whatever shape they may assume, howev- 
er subtle and refined may be their workings in the 
human breast, are denounced in our text as unwor- 
thy and sinful. Nor is the conduct that proceeds 
from them at all acceptable in the sight of God, 
how much soever it may appear like obedience to 
his will 

I have thus considered three classes of motives 
which are forbidden in our text — a mere regard to 
reciprocity of interest, to the reputation of good 
conduct in the world, or to anv evil which our fel- 
low-men may inflict upon us. 

Let us now consider what the text enjoins as the 
only proper motive of conduct : " Whatsoever ye 
do, do it heartily as to the Lord." — It cannot be 
denied that God, as our Creator, our preserver, our 
constant Benefactor, and our rightful Sovereign, has 
a claim upon our perpetual allegiance and service. 
We are his property, and shall he not do what he 
pleases with his own ? We are his children, and 
shall we not render him a filial respect and obedi- 
ence ? We are his subjects, and shall we not sub- 
mit to the wholesome laws of his empire ? Now 
he requires us to love him with our whole soul 



DISCOURSE IX. l°2o 

and strength and mind, and that whether we eat or 
drink, or whatever we do, we should do all to his 
glory. It is true, we cannot be constantly engaged 
in immediate acts of devotion to God. Our pres- 
ent state of being does not permit this, nor is it 
required by our holy religion. We have much to 
do with our fellow- men in the various relations of 
life. We must have food and raiment. Domestic 
cares devolve upon the father of a family, and civil 
duties upon the magistrates and rulers of the land. 
But our text teaches, that all these pursuits must 
be sanctified by a spirit of love to God, and of 
obedience to his will ; because, by thus perfor- 
ming the duties of life, we keep constantly in 
view our allegiance to our Maker and his do- 
minion over us : because, by thus performing 
them, we imitate the example of Him who is set 
forth as a pattern to all believers, and whose chief 
object was to do the will of him that sent him ; 
because, by thus performing them, we are volunta- 
rily and cheerfully subservient, in some humble 
degree, to the wise designs of Providence, in rela- 
tion to the government and economy of this world ; 
because, by thus performing them, we purify and 
ennoble every motive of conduct, are guarded 
against what is vile and selfish and sinful, and be- 
come meet for that future world of bliss, the delight 
of whose inhabitants is to do the will of God ; in 
fine, because by thus performing the duties of life 2 
we let our light so shine before men, that others. 



124 



DISCOURSE IX. 



seeing our good works, may glorify our Father who 
is in heaven. Thus to act is to do all things hear- 
tily as to the Lord. 

III. Let us consider, thirdly, the extent of the 
command in our text : " Whatsoever ye do, do it 
heartily as to the Lord, and not unto men." — 
Most men are willing to acknowledge a general 
obligation of obedience to the will of God. — 
They professedly recognize him as the Sovereign 
of the Universe ; as the Controller, by his provi- 
dence, of this lower world \ as the final Judge 
of their conduct ; and as that Being whom they 
ought, in some way or other, to serve. But, 
alas ! they honour him with their lips, while 
their hearts are far from him. Proclaim in their 
hearing thp injunction of Scripture, " Whether ye 
eat or drinl^, or whatever ye do, do all to the glory 
of God," and they call it a hard saying, and com- 
plain of its Author as an austere master. But 
surely, if God has a right to any of our services, he 
has a right to them all. If we are bound to act from 
a principle of love and obedience to him in the 
more important concerns of life, we are equally 
bound to do so in those of less moment. The com- 
mand of the text, therefore, applies to every event 
and circumstance of our lives. In all, in each of 
these events, however minute and trifling, we are 
required to act, either with a direct reference to 
God 5 enabling us to realize his immediate presence. 



DISCOURSE IX. 125 

his lawful authority over us, and the constant claim 
which he has to our cheerful and grateful obedience ; 
or, at least, with a prevailing temper of mind to 
exhibit and prove the existence of such principles 
in the breast. 

Having thus attempted to unfold the meaning of 
the text, let us attend to a few reflections by way 
of improvement. 

In the first place, let no one complain of the in- 
junction of our text, that it is too austere, that it 
lays too great a restraint on human motives and 
conduct, that an obedience to it would rob this life 
of all interest and importance, and that its strictness 
makes no allowance for the frailties and imperfec- 
tions of our nature. I say, let no one thus complain 
who considers the condition of those persons, to 
whom the command — " Whatsoever ye do, do it 
heartily as to the Lord, and not unto men" — was 
originally addressed. Think of the slaves at Co- 
losse — poor, degraded, abject — deprived of what we 
deem the greatest of all earthly blessings, Liberty — 
condemned to a perpetual, irksome bondage — and 
subject, no doubt, some of them, to the iron rule of 
a cruel master. They are taught by the Apostle, 
ihat it is not enough to regulate their conduct by 
the wary principles of mere prudence ; that some- 
thing more is necessary than common morality and 
honesty ; that God requires of them, because they 
are his servants, a strict obedience to their earthly 



126 DISCOURSE IX. 

masters, and a performance of whatever they do ? 
however irksome or servile, from a principle of love 
to God and conformity to his will. 

Now was all this required of the poor slaves at 
Colosse, and shall we hope to excuse ourselves from 
this injunction ; — we who enjoy so many privileges ; 
w T e who breathe the air of freedom, who taste the 
comforts of domestic and social life, who have ac- 
cess to a thousand sources of enjoyment, and of 
intellectual and religious improvement ? Alas ! 
such is the depravity of man, if God load him with 
kindness, he becomes the more ungrateful, and 
complains of that as a hard service which requires 
of him to act from a principle of love and obedience 
to his greatest Benefactor. But this service is not 
a hard one. My brethren, let us appeal to our own 
consciences. Which is the hardest service ? to 
serve God or Mammon ? — to do whatever we do, 
as unto men ; to act from a regard to the short- 
lived influence of our fellow-men upon our safety or 
happiness ; to seek the gratification of low and sen- 
sual appetites, the acquisition of perishable riches, 
or the enjoyment of a reputation which in a few 
years will sleep with our dust in the tomb ? — or to 
live as becomes rational and immortal beings; to 
love and serve in all our conduct that infinite Spirit 
who sheds down, even in this world, upon the meek 
and lowly followers of his Son, a peace which pas- 
seth understanding, and who opens to their view 
beyond the grave the prospect of perfect and unfa- 



DISCOURSE. IX. 127 

ding bliss ? I repeat it ; let conscience answer 
whether it is indeed a hard service to do all things 
heartily as to the Lord. 

In the second place, The subject holds forth an 
awful admonition to such as hope finally to be ac- 
cepted of God, because they have in this life never 
swerved from the strictest principles of an honest 
and decent morality. How many, it is to be feared, 
go down to the grave relying on this broken reed 
for support ! If such be the case of any of you, my 
hearers, I pray you, compare your motives of con- 
duct with the command of the text : " Whatsoever 
ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto 
men." The nature and extent of this precept has 
been explained, and its authority and reasonable- 
ness established. It has been given us as a rule of 
conduct by that holy and dread Being, at whose bar 
we must all one day appear, to render an account of 
the deeds done in the body. Have we complied, do 
we comply, with its reasonable injunctions ? If not, 
where shall we look for safety ? To what covert 
shall we resort from the storm of Divine Justice, in 
that day of awful retribution, when " the heavens 
being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements 
shall melt with fervent heat ;" when " the Son of 
man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels 
with him ; when he shall sit on the throne of his 
glory, and before him shall be gathered all nations : 
and he shall separate them one from another, as a 
shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats ?" What. 



128 DISCOURSE IX, 

then, will be our condition ; what will be our plea, 
when the books are opened, and judgment passed 
upon all according to their works ? Shall we dare 
to plead a strict obedience to that Law of God, 
which commands us, in the words of the text, " to 
do whatsoever we do heartily, as to the Lord, and 
uot unto men ?" Or shall we not have to confess, 
that much of our conduct, perhaps in some instan- 
ces all, has proceeded from a selfish and sinful re- 
gard to the mere favour of man ? Where, then, will 
be the refuge of the mere moralist ; of him who 
has neglected to love and serve his God : of him 
who, trusting in his own righteousness, has depised 
that Saviour whose blood alone can redeem us 
from the curse of the law, and deliver us from a 
doom only as horrible as the guilt of those who 
deserve it ? 

Finally, Forget not, my Christian brethren, the 
slaves of Colosse, nor the precept given them by the 
Apostle. Compare your condition with theirs, and 
let every principle of gratitude awaken your love 
and obedience to God. You are not called to en- 
dure the trials and sufferings which every where 
awaited the primitive disciples of Christ. Many 
a thorn which made them bleed and suffer is remo- 
ved from your path toward heaven. " I beseech 
you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, 
that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, 
acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable ser- 
vice. And be ye not conformed to this world, but 



DISCOURSE IXo 129 

be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, 
that ye may prove what is that good, and accepta- 
ble, and perfect will of God." And remember, for 
your consolation and encouragement, that " of the 
Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance ; 
for ye serve the Lord Christ." 









17 



DISCOURSE X 



JOHN V. 3& 



Search the Scriptures ; for in them ye think ye have 
eternal life : and they are they which testify of me. 

This command was originally given to the Jews 
by our Saviour. His object was to convince them 
that he was the true Messiah, by an appeal to their 
own sacred writings. And had this stubborn and 
unbelieving people obeyed this injunction in its 
true import ; had they read with candour what was 
written in their Scriptures respecting Christ ; had 
they, in doing this, felt the spirit of their monarch 
David, when he prayed, " Open thou mine eyes, 
that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law," 
then would many have been ready to say, with 
Philip, " We have found him of whom Moses, in 
the law, and the prophets did write ; Jesus of Naz- 
areth the son of Joseph." Then would many have 
resorted unto him as the true Messiah, and believed 
on him to the saving of their souls. But, alas ! 
u that people's heart was waxen gross, and their 
eyes they had closed, lest at any time they should 
see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and 



DISCOURSE X. 131 

should understand with their hearts, and should be 
converted." A few were open to conviction ; but 
we have reason to fear that most of those who listen- 
ed to our Saviour's instruction, and, perhaps, of 
those who heard the solemn injunction in our text, 
resisted unto the last the influence of Divine truth. 
Their doom has been fixed by God ; — we will not 
judge them. Let us, rather, my hearers, consider 
how much greater light we enjoy, and, of course ; 
how much more aggravated will be our condemna- 
tion, if we close our eyes against that truth which 
is able to make us wise, through faith, unto salva- 
tion. We possess in our own language the word 
of God. Beside the Law and the Prophets, we 
have an additional Record, full of Divine instruc- 
tion, and calculated to persuade every candid and 
sober mind of the truth and importance of the 
Christian Religion. The evidence, now, of Christ's 
Messiahship, and of the truth of what he taught, 
is overwhelming. It beams from every page of the 
New Testament, and extorted the confession of a 
celebrated infidel, that if Socrates, one of the most 
irreproachable of the heathen sages, died like a 
philosopher, Jesus Christ died like a God. Indeed, 
the conscience of every one who has been at the 
pains to peruse carefully what the Evangelists have 
recorded of our Saviour, bears witness that he was 
Divine, and that he is the only Refuge for our lost 
and ruined world. Let us apply, then, to ourselves 
the precept in our text, feeling that this day Jesus 
Christ, in fact, says to each one of us, " Search the 



132 DISCOURSE X. 

Scriptures ; for in them ye think ye have eternal 
life, and they are they which testify of me." 

In further directing your attention to these words, 
I propose, first, to consider the importance of search- 
ing the Scriptures ; and, secondly, with what spirit 
this search should be adopted. 

I. The importance of searching the Scriptures is 
manifest from two considerations. It is the only 
way to acquire a correct knowledge of what con- 
cerns the welfare of our immortal souls.— The 
habitual performance of this duty is absolutely ne- 
cessary to the Christian's growth in grace. — Let us 
notice each of these particulars. 

1. Searching the Scriptures is the only way to 
acquire a correct knowledge of what concerns our 
immortal souls. — Think, for a moment, my breth- 
ren, of the condition of those who are destitute of 
the word of God. Cast your eyes upon those who 
inhabit the distant islands of the sea, or roam in 
the wilds of the Western world, or dwell in the 
pagan regions of the East. Select from among 
them the most enlightened of their wise men. 
Place him alongside of some little child of this 
congregation, who has been taught the first elements 
of the oracles of God. Let them converse together 
on moral and religious subjects. Let them speak 
of that great Being who made the heavens and the 
earth, who breathed into our nostrils the. breath of 
life, who is the Father of our immortal spirits, the 
observer of all our conduct, and at whose bar we 



DISCOURSE x. 133 

must one day appear to give an account for all the 
deeds which we have done here in the body. 
Which of the two, think you, would speak most 
worthily and correctly of God ? The pagan philos- 
opher would have reason to blush at his ignorance, 
and to acknowledge himself capable of being taught 
the most sublime and important truths, even " out 
of the mouth of babes and sucklings." — My breth- 
ren, we should be as ignorant as the Pagan, had 
we never listened to the instructions of the Bible. 
Our minds, like his, would be covered with gross 
darkness in regard to all moral subjects. Do 
you require proof of this ? It is furnished by every 
page of history ; and by all we know of the religious 
knowledge of the wisest nations of heathen antiqui- 
ty. They who have carefully read the most inge- 
nious writings of pagan philosophy will assure you, 
that their notions of God, of virtue, and of a future 
state, are miserably low and erroneous. True, 
they had some glimmerings of the truth ; but these 
were few and feeble, and all of them were reflected 
from the Jewish Scriptures, or from the instructions 
given by God to the patriarchs of old, and transmit- 
ted through tradition. 

But we need not resort to the experience of ages 
xq establish the position that our knowledge of 
Divine truth must be derived from the word of 
God. Let us examine our own minds. Whence 
did we derive our acquaintance with religious truth ? 
Surely it was not born with us. We have acquired 



134 DISCOURSE X, 

it according as our mental powers have gradually 
strengthened and become capable of receiving it. 
Did we, then, originate it by our own powers of 
thought ? How, for instance, did we obtain the 
knowledge of a God ? By considering without any 
instruction the works of his hands which surround 
us ? Did these lead our minds to the great Maker of 
all things with no help from others, from our parents 
and instructors ? Alas ! so far from seeing God in 
the various displays of his goodness in the heavens 
and in the earth, how did our youthful minds start 
back from this serious subject when it was proposed 
to us ; and how difficult was it, after all, to teach 
us to form any just conception of the great Jehovah ! 
No, my brethren ; if we look back upon the history 
of our own minds, we shall see that we are indebted 
to instruction for all that we know of God and a 
future state, and that this instruction was grounded 
upon the holy word of God. If, then, to know thaf 
dread Being, whose law denounces the most severe 
penalty against us, because we are sinners ; if to 
learn the real state of our moral condition, and on 
what our eternal safety depends ; if to hear of that 
Divine Saviour who poured out his blood on the 
Cross, that he might save all who put their trust in 
him ; if to be taught that there is a Holy Spirit, 
whose influences can change our corrupt and rebel- 
lious hearts, and prepare us for a world of purity 
and peace ; if to have set before us the awful real- 
ities of death, judgment and eternity ; — if these are 



DISCOURSE X. 135 

3oIemn and momentous truths, in which we are all 
most deeply interested, then it is important to 
search the sacred Scriptures in which they are 
contained ; and, if we neglect to do this, we rush 
blindfold to perdition. 

2. The habitual reading of the sacred Scriptures 
is absolutely necessary to the Christian's growth in 
grace. — This is evident, first, from the nature of re- 
generation. The Holy Spirit is indeed the proper 
and efficient cause of this great moral change in the 
hearts of sinners. But he acts through the instru- 
mentality of means. And what are these means ? 
Let the Scriptures answer. St. Paul, in writing 
to the Corinthians, says, " For though ye have 
ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not 
many fathers : for in Christ Jesus I have begot- 
ten you through the Gospel." St. James says, 
" Of his own will begat he us with the word of 
truth, that we should be a kind of first-fruits of his 
creatures." St. Peter says, " Being born again, not 
of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the 
word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever." 
Divine truth, then — even that truth to which we 
can every day have access in the pages of Holy 
Writ — is the instrument which the Spirit of God 
uses in renovating the depraved heart. Now, my 
Christian friends, will you neglect the perusal of 
that sacred truth, to which, under God, you are 
indebted for the hope you may venture to entertain 
of being born of God ? Shall that word, whose 
effulgence first shone in the dark places of your 



136 DISCOURSE X. 

understanding, no longer be necessary as " a lamp 
to your feet and a light to your path, to guide you 
in the way everlasting ?" If you neglect daily and 
prayerfully to peruse the oracles of God, you will 
soon learn by sad experience, that the fervour o( 
your first love will decline ; clouds and darkness 
will obscure your spiritual day ; and, " if the light 
that is in you become darkness, how great will be 
that darkness !" 

That the habitual reading of the sacred Scrip- 
ture is absolutely necessary to the Christian's growth 
in grace, is evident from the express declarations 
and commands of Scripture. Hear what our Sav- 
iour says : " It is the Spirit that quickeneth ; the 
flesh profiteth nothing : The words that I speak 
unto you, they are spirit and they are life." In the 
last very affectionate interview which he had with 
his disciples, he thus said, " Now ye are clean 
through the word which I have spoken unto you." 
And in the memorable prayer which he offered up 
soon after, is this petition addressed to his heavenly 
Father, " Sanctify them through thy truth — thy 
word is truth." The early converts to Christianity 
were urged by Saint Peter, " as new-born babes, 
to desire the sincere milk of the word ;" and for 
what purpose ? — that they might grow thereby." 
We have also this precept, " Let the word of Christ 
dwell in you richly in all wisdom :" and, to sum up 
all, the express declaration of an Apostle, that " all 
Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is 
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction. 



DISCOURSE X. 137 

for instruction in righteousness ; that the man of 
God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all 
good works." 

II. Under my second general head, I proposed to 
consider with what spirit it becomes us to search 
the Scriptures. 

1. First, we should be fully persuaded that they 
are indeed the word of God, and that in them he as 
truly addresses us, as if we heard his voice speaking 
to us from heaven. — No one need want proof of the 
divinity of the Bible, who lives in this Christian 
land. The evidences of its inspiration are com- 
plete and overwhelming, and within the reach of 
even the most illiterate who will be at the pains to 
read them. Pious and ingenious writers have com- 
prised these evidences in a small compass, and ren- 
dered them accessible to all. 

And here I cannot but entreat parents to consider, 
how important it is that those children, whom God 
has committed to their care, should be early in- 
structed in some of the most easy and familiar 
proofs of the truth of our holy religion. This will 
be the surest guard, under the blessing of God, 
against the attacks of infidelity with which they 
may meet in their riper years. It will inspire them, 
especially such as are curious to inquire into the 
reason of things, with a sober and permanent rev- 
erence for the word of God, and will convince them 
how great must be the depravity, even of their 
youthful hearts, in resisting that truth which comes 

18 



138 DISCOURSE X, 

so forcibly recommended to their understanding 
and conscience. 

But to return ; I observed, that, in searching the 
Scriptures, we should be fully persuaded that they 
are indeed the word of God. Now, without insist- 
ing on the external evidences of their truth, to which 
I have alluded, there is enough in the very pages 
of the New Testament to render all doubt and 
unbelief most criminal. Read them attentively. 
Compare their contents with your own hearts. 
Soon, unless pride and obstinacy darken the 
understanding — soon does the sinner, like Felix, 
tremble before the authority of Divine Truth. He 
is obliged to confess that the word of God is indeed 
u quick and powerful, and sharper than any two- 
edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder 
of soul and spirit, and that it is a discerner of the 
thoughts and intents of the heart." But your faith, 
my Christian brethren, stands on a still firmer foun- 
dation. You have, I trust, realized the fulfilment 
of the Saviour's promise — " If any man will do his 
will, (the will of God) he shall know of the doctrine, 
whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself." 
You have proved the truth of His words, who spake 
as never man spake, by the experience of your own 
hearts. When you open, therefore, the pages of 
the sacred book, listen to the instruction of your 
Heavenly Father, with the most implicit confidence 
in his veracity, and with the full assurances that He, 
and not man, speaks to you in the record which he 
has placet] in your hands* 



DISCOURSE X. 13& 

2. Secondly, We should search the Scriptures 
with a docile and humble spirit. — If we have ever 
felt the gross moral darkness which sin has cast 
over our minds : if we are sensible how liable we 
are to err in forming just conceptions of the Father, 
the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and of the way of 
salvation through Jesus Christ : if, in short, we are 
persuaded that God alone can teach us, what is our 
duty and our truest happiness ; then shall we be 
prepared to sit as humble disciples at the feet of 
Jesus, and learn of him, who also was meek and 
lowly in heart. But with how different a temper 
do many, even those who are called Christians, often 
approach the sacred Oracles ! They rely on the 
strength of their own reason, and even pride them- 
selves in having discovered truths, which perhaps 
God has seen fit entirely to conceal from the human 
mind. They reject, too, all that is mysterious, and 
would bring every thing to the level of their own 
understandings. They are almost unwilling to walk 
by Faith. Such, wise and prudent in their own 
conceit, have to fear lest God should hide from them 
the knowledge of Divine Truth, and reveal it unto 
babes, — unto those who are willing to be taught of 
God, and to rest the most implicit confidence upon 
" Thus saith the Lord." — Bear in mind, then, that 
in searching the Scriptures, as well as in the per- 
formance of every other duty, " God resisteth the 
proud, but giveth grace unto the humble." 

3. Thirdly, This search should be conducted with 
a prayerful spirit. — When our Saviour met the 



140 DISCOURSE X. 

eleven disciples at Jerusalem, just before his as- 
cension, we are told that " he opened their under- 
standings, that they might understand the Scrip- 
tures." And Saint Paul tells the Ephesians, that he 
ceased not to make mention of them in his prayers, 
that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father 
of glory, would give unto them the spirit of wisdom 
and revelation in the knowledge of him, that the 
eyes of their understanding being enlightened, they 
might know what was the hope of his calling, and 
what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the 
saints. 55 So necessary is the influence of the Spirit 
of God upon our minds, to enable us rightly to un- 
derstand the word which he has dictated ! Always 
rely then on this heavenly Monitor for assistance. 
Supplicate the continual communication to your 
minds of his wisdom and grace, when you search the 
Scriptures ; and then you may rest assured that you 
will learn all truth necessary to salvation. For you 
have this encouragement and promise — " If any of 
you lack wisdom let him ask of God, that giveth to 
all men liberally and upbraideth not ; and it shall 
be given him, 55 

In improving our subject, let us attend briefly to 
the two following particulars. 

First If to search the Scriptures is important, 
because from them alone we can derive that knowl- 
edge which is essential to the welfare of our im- 
mortal souls : if they alone furnish that spiritual 
food which is absolutely necessary to the Christian's 



DISCOURSE X. 141 

growth in grace : and if it becomes us to peruse 
them with a spirit of faith, of humility, and of 
prayer ; then our subject furnishes believers with a 
very satisfactory test of their religious character. 
Let us, my Christian brethren, apply it to ourselves 
with " fear and trembling." On the sacred pages 
of Revelation, we find written every thing that can 
animate our hopes, and alarm our fears. There 
we see pourtrayed the character of that awful and 
holy Being, who permits us to call him our Heav- 
enly Father. Do we love to trace the operations 
of his power, his wisdom, his justice and his grace, 
as recorded in his revealed word ? There we have 
drawn out, in living colours, the features of Him 
who is " the brightness of the Father's glory, and 
the express image of his person." Do we often un- 
fold the Gospels, that we may admire this heavenly 
portrait of our Divine Master ? Do we endeavour to 
assimilate our characters to his ? Do we find our- 
selves, in the frequent perusal of his history, imbi- 
bing more and more of his spirit ; and thus " with 
open face beholding, as in a glass, the glory of the 
Lord, do we become changed into the same image 
from glory to glory, even as by the spirit of the 
Lord. Do we, with the holy monarch of Israel, 
delight in the law of the Lord, and meditate there- 
in day and night ? Do we, as he did, find it u perfect, 
converting the soul ; sure, making wise the simple ; 
right, rejoicing the heart ; pure, enlightening the 
eyes ?" Do we desire with his ardour of affection, 
this letter of love, written as it were by the finger 



142 DISCOURSE X. 

of God, more than gold, yea, than much fine gold ? 
Is it sweeter to us than honey and the honey-comb ? 
Is it the only oracle of our faith to which we resort 
for instruction ; the only guide of our conduct, to 
which we look for direction ; the balm of our souls, 
which we use for consolation ; the light, whose 
piercing ray we are not anxious to avoid, lest our 
deeds should be reproved, but to which we cheer- 
fully come, that our deeds may be made manifest, 
that they are wrought in God ! In one word, do 
we daily, in the spirit of faith, of humility, and of 
prayer, " receive with meekness the ingrafted 
word ;' 5 and learn by happy experience the truth 
of what an inspired Apostle has declared concern- 
ing it, that it is — " the power of God to salvation ?" 
Finally 5 They who neglect the frequent and 
prayerful perusal of the holy Scriptures, have no 
reason to hope that they are interested in its " many 
great and precious promises." Indeed, they have 
every reason to fear, lest against them will flu ally 
be executed its awful and tremendous threatenings. 
What would you say, my brethren, of that Son 
who should refuse to receive and read an epistle 
from his father, containing the most salutary advice 
and directions respecting his conduct ; nay, offering 
to him the entire forgiveness of all his past ingrat- 
itude, and an interest in the choicest privileges and 
expectations of his father's house ? What would you 
say of that sick man, who, although on the verge of 
death, should decline hearing the prescriptions of 
his kind and affectionate physician ? What would 



DISCOURSE X. 143 

you think of that traveller, who should shut his eyes 
against the way-side monitor, placed to direct him 
in his path, and wander on careless of his journey's 
end, and about to suffer perplexity, distress, and 
ruin ? Would you not call these persons weak, fool- 
ish, and wicked? How much wiser or better than 
they, are those to whom the bible is a sealed book ? 
Nay, are they not of all men the most unwise and 
sinful ? Holding in their hands a revelation of the 
will of their Heavenly Father, they treat it with 
contempt and neglect. Sick, even unto death, 
their ear is deaf to the voice of the only Physician 
of their souls. Walking in the path which leads 
to the chambers of woe, they turn from that Guide 
who points the sure way to the mansions of everlas- 
ting peace. They are urged to open the sacred 
volume, by the express command of that Saviour, 
the history of whose dying love it contains. By all 
the light which it casts upon their condition in this 
life, and upon their future destiny ; by all the sol- 
emn motives it holds forth derived from every thing 
that is attractive in the mercy, and awful in the 
justice, of their final Judge, are they incited to a 
speedy repentance toward God and faith in the 
Lord Jesus Christ. And yet, in violation of duty, 
in opposition to their best interests, day after day 
passes by, and they read any thing else but the 
Bible : they think and converse about any thing 
else rather than its sacred contents. 

My dear hearers, do any of you habitually neglect 
the perusal of the sacred Scripture? ? Consider. I 






144 DISCOURSE X. 

pray you, that there can be no stronger proof of 
your having no interest in the blessed hopes which 
they hold forth to all whose delight is in the law of 
the Lord. Consider, that if you finally perish, this 
Book, which God, in his wise providence, has de- 
nied to so many of your fellow-men ; this Book, 
which you possess in your own language, and which, 
nevertheless, you treat with careless indifference, 
nay, with contemptuous neglect ; this Book will 
testify against you at that dreadful day, " when 
God shall judge the secrets of men, by Jesus 
Christ," according to the Gospel which this very 
Book contains ; and you will receive the aggravated 
condemnation of that servant " who knew his Mas- 
ter's will, and did not obey it." From such a doom 
may we all be delivered by the mercy of God ! May 
his grace so incline us to search the Scriptures, and 
his Spirit so enlighten our minds in the perusal of 
them, that their solemn truths may be received into 
good and honest hearts, and bring forth fruit unto 
eternal life ! Amen, 



DISCOURSE XI 



john vi. 44. 



No man can come to me, except the Father which hath 
sent me, draw him. 

Perhaps there is scarcely any doctrine of Scrip- 
ture more repugnant to the feelings of sinful man, 
than the necessity of a Divine influence in whatever 
relates to the salvation of the soul. And yet there 
is none, which, when rightly understood and duly 
appreciated, is more full of encouragement and 
consolation. How it happens, that we, worms of 
the dust, ignorant, weak, and wicked, are unwilling 
to be enlightened by that Being whose understand- 
ing is infinite ; to be " strengthened with might by 
his Spirit in the inner man ;" and to have him 
" work in us both to will and to do of his good 
pleasure ;" how this happens, is surely to be ac- 
counted for in no other way, than that sin, the most 
deep and dreadful, hath " darkened our foolish 
hearts," rendered us blind to our own true interest, 
and urged us to rush onward to perdition ; refusing 
to be rescued by that arm which alone is mighty 
to save. This opposition to the doctrine of Divine 

19 



146 discourse xi. 

influence is as various as the different shapes of sirs 
and diversities of human character. Indeed, it 
often changes its form in the same breast ; and, 
when driven from one " refuge of lies," finds a hold 
in some other. 

1. Unbelief doubts the possibility of Divine in- 
fluence. — " I can trace," says one, " within my own 
mind no symptoms of foreign guidance or aid. I 
discover there nothing but the regular and uninter- 
rupted flow of my own thoughts, emotions, and 
purposes — no supernatural suggestions — nothing 
that is not connected with something preceding. 
I always act from motives, and as reason dictates, 
without any sudden and unaccountable starts of 
aversion to vice or love of virtue. Indeed, were 
it not so, I should cease to be free. Place me under 
Divine influence with regard to moral objects of 
thought or action, and you make me a mere ma- 
chine ; you destroy my responsibility to God." 

2. Pride disdains this influence. — " Am I not," 
is its language, " the absolute sovereign of my own 
thoughts, affections, and conduct, and capable, as a 
free agent, of controlling and directing them as I 
please ? Must I be still influenced and guided by 
God in the exercise of that very power which he 
has given me, of choosing the good and refusing 
the evil ?" 

3. Self-righteousness does not want this influ- 
ence.—" All the commandments of God have I 
kept from my youth up," it exclaims : " what lack 
1 yet ?" Why need I be drawn by God to a re- 



DISCOURSE XI. J 47 

iiance upon the merits of his Son — I who am rich, 
and increased with goods, and have need of noth- 
ing ?" 

4. Slothfulness is waiting for this influence. — Its 
language is : — " I have nothing to do in the affair of 
my salvation. God alone can change the heart. 
He alone works in us both to will and to do. I will 
therefore live in hope that I shall be compelled to 
enter into the kingdom of heaven ; and in the mean 
while, surely but little blame can attach itself to 
one who is thus absolutely dependent for all holi- 
ness upon the efficacy of Divine influence." 

5. Guilt, awakened by conscience, imagines that 
it truly longs for this influence, and murmurs be- 
cause it has not received it. — " How long," it says, 
" will God withhold from me the energy of his 
grace ? My ardent wish is to be made holy and 
happy. I see the extreme wickedness of my own 
heart. I feel that I am unable to change its pollu- 
ted affections. How often have I sought carefully 
the interposition of Divine assistance, and yet have 
not found it ? What else can I do that I have not 
done ?" 

Such, my hearers, are some of the repugnancies 
which the sinner feels against the doctrine of Divine 
influence, and some of the perversions which he 
makes of it. I propose to consider them in their 
order, and to shew, that although some of them 
may, in a few instances, originate from misappre- 
hension and mistake, yet that most of them always 



148 DISCOURSE XI. 

and all of them often, are to be traced to the de- 
pravity of the human heart. 

I. In the first place, then, Unbelief doubts the 
possibility of Divine influence — and why ? Be- 
cause it can discover no traces of this influence in 
its own mind, and because it deems it to be incon- 
sistent with the freedom of human agency. 

Let us attend to these two particulars. 

Unbelief can discover no traces of a Divine influ- 
ence in its own mind. — But surely this is a very 
unsatisfactory argument to prove that it has not 
affected the minds of others. Shall the sickly 
invalid, who has from his very birth, laboured un- 
der the constant pressure of lassitude and disease, 
be justified in concluding that no one feels the 
benign influence of health, because he has never 
been conscious of it ? Strong and unequivocal is 
the testimony of thousands, whose clearness of ap- 
prehension, sobriety of judgment, and veracity of 
assertion, in all other cases, are never called in 
question — that they discover within themselves a 
wonderful transformation of temper and conduct 
which manifests itself to' be the effect of a Divine 
influence, by marks the most distinct and certain. 
Now, surely, it is neither the part of candour nor 
good sense, to deny the reality of that which is at- 
tested by the most respectable witnesses. But In- 
fidelity is not satisfied with this reply to its objection. 
It starts another difficuly, more subtle and ingenious. 



DISCOURSE XL 149 

" Every one." it says, " even the advocate for a 
Divine influence, who is careful to turn his view 
inward and examine attentively what passes within 
his own mind, will discover there nothing but his 
own thoughts, emotions and purposes. He will soon 
find, that these succeed each other in a certain or- 
der ; that one, as it were, grows out of some other 
preceding it; that all are under the guidance of his 
will, though subject in a certain sense to that prin- 
ciple of association which is one of the fundamental 
laws of the human mind." Now, admitting all this 
to be true, what does it prove ? Why this precisely, 
and this only, that the human mind is subject to 
certain laws, which so control it as to produce a 
regular and connected train of thought and action. 
And is this inconsistent with the possibility of a 
Divine influence ? Who gave the human mind these 
laws ? Who sustains their operation ? The Father of 
spirits. And cannot he through the instrumentality 
of these laws, have access to those very souls which 
he supports in being, so as to guide and direct them 
as he pleases ? But to press the unbeliever more 
closely — let him tell what these laws are ; what 
any laws are, whether of Providence, of Nature, or 
of Grace, but a certain uniformity of operation 
which the Divine Being has seen fit to adopt in the 
exhibition which he makes of himself to his intelli- 
gent creatures. It is this very uniformity which 
displays him, in the greatness of his strength, 
moving onward in silent majesty to the completion 
of his vast and incomprehensible purposes. And 



150 DISCOURSE XI. 

yet it is this very uniformity which leads us blind 
and sinful mortals to overlook, to forget, and even to 
deny the interposition of his power and his grace. 
u In him we live, and move, and have our being," 
although many of the most important processes of 
our animal frame go on so silently, and secretly, 
that we are entirely unconscious of them. They 
go on in such exact conformity to the laws of the 
human body, that we are unable to discover the 
mode ; and yet we acknowledge the reality of that 
Divine Agency which sustains and manages our 
corporeal existence. What symmetry, order, and 
harmony pervade the world of nature that surrounds 
us, from the lily of the field which unfolds its beau- 
ties by a gradual and regular process, to those vast 
lights in the firmament of heaven, which are there 
placed, and continue their accustomed rounds, " for 
signs, and for seasons, and for days and for years." 
Every thing goes on under the direction of what we 
call the Laws of Nature ; and yet it is the great 
Creator of all things who " clothes the grass of the 
field," causes the day-spring to know his place," 
¥; binds the sweet influence of Pleiades," " looses 
the bands of Orion," " brings forth Mazaroth in his 
season," and " guides Arcturus with his sons.'* 
Now we do not deny the influence of God upon our 
bodies, or upon the material world, because we see 
this influence only in its effects, or because it acts 
with constant and regular uniformity. How unwise, 
then, nay how wicked, is the unbeliever who rejects 
and treats with contempt the Dectrine of a Divine 



DISCOURSE XI. 151 

influence upon the mind, simply because the mind 
is under the direction of regular and uniform laws 
of thought and action ! But another difficulty is 
raised. " Granting," it is said, " the possibility flf a 
Divine influence, how is this to be reconciled with 
the freedom of human agency ?" I answer : Just as 
many other apparent difficulties are to be reconcil- 
ed, where one truth seems to clash with another. 
by establishing each on its own proper basis, by its 
own proper proofs ; and then acknowledging, with a 
candid and humble mind, that we blind and erring 
mortals cannot fathom all the works and dispensa- 
tions of the infinite and eternal Spirit. Our Sav- 
iour has expressly declared, in the words of our text, 
" No man can come to me, except the Father, 
which hath sent me, draw him." These are the 
words of Him who, by way of eminence, called 
himself " The Truth." His declaration is enough to 
satisfy us, that God does exercise a divine influence 
upon man ; especially since it has been shewn, that 
there is nothing in this inconsistent with all that we 
can discover of the structure and laws of the human 
mind. That we are free agents, we know by our 
own consciousness. Here, then, each of these 
truths has its own proper proof: both satisfactory. 
both convincing; and if we reject both on account 
of apparent inconsistencies and difficulties, we may 
as well turn sceptics at once on all moral and reli- 
gious subjects, nay on many subjects connected 
with the daily concerns and conduct of our life. 
Let us tremble, then, my brethren, at the thought of 



152 DISCOURSE XL 

resisting and grieving that Spirit of grace winch 
alone is able to draw us to Jesus Christ. Let us 
no longer do this by cherishing unwise and wicked 
doubts respecting the reality and efficacy of his in- 
fluence. 

II. In the second place, Pride disdains this influ- 
ence—A feeling of dependence on God, whether 
for temporal or spiritual good, is of all other emo- 
tions, the most repugnant to the sinful heart. Yet 
why should it be so ? God is our Creator, our Pre- 
server, our constant Benefactor. To him we are 
indebted for life and breath, and all things. His 
visitation preserves our spirits. He feeds and clothes 
us. His bounty fills our cup, and causeth it to 
overflow with blessings. Should he at this moment 
withdraw his supporting hand, we should be blotted 
out from existence. Should he withhold his kind- 
ness and long-suffering, and deal with us according 
to our just deserts, we should cease to be prisoners 
of hope — we should open our eyes upon that world, 
where all is horror, and anguish, and despair. And 
yet this Being, so good, so gracious, and so merciful, 
receives not the homage of our dependence. Es- 
pecially is the sinner prone to reject the influence 
and assistance of God, in what relates to the salva- 
tion of his soul. " The wicked, through the pride 
of his countenance, will not seek after God — God 
is not in all his thoughts." Alas ! how does such 
conduct prove his extreme folly and guilt ! How 
little has he yet detected of that ignorance of reli 



DISCOURSE XI. 153 

gious truth, under which his dark and benighted 
understanding labours ; of that weakness and in- 
sufficiency of human resolution which is so unable 
to cope with temptation, which yields to the first 
assaults of the adversary, and is taken captive by 
him at his will ; of that dominion of sin within his 
breast which binds and enslaves him in the misera- 
ble thraldom of " the lust of the flesh, the lust of 
the eye, and the pride of life." Could he once be 
brought to feel this his ignorance, and weakness, 
and guilt, and to exclaim with the humble Apos- 
tle, " We are not sufficient of ourselves to think 
any thing as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of 
God," how earnestly would he ask for, and how r 
gratefully and devoutly would he cherish, that spirit 
which alone can draw the proud and rebellious to 
Jesus Christ ! And having felt the sweet attractions 
of his grace, how ready would he be to say with 
the same Apostle, " By the grace of God, I am 
what I am!" 

III. In the third place, Self-righteousness does 
not want this influence. — For others, it may indeed 
be necessary ; for extortioners, for the unjust, for 
adulterers, for the poor publican ; but for him who 
fasts and prays ; who pays tithes of all that he pos- 
sesses for the support of the civil and religious in- 
stitutions of his country ; who goes with " the 
multitude" to the house of God, " with the voice 
of joy and praise, with the multitude that keep holy- 
20 



L54 DISCOURSE XI. 

day ;" who practises all the kind and endearing 
charities of life ; who " lays judgment to the line, 
and righteousness to the plummet, in all his con- 
duct and concerns with his fellow-menj that he 
must be " created anew in Christ Jesus unto good 
works." is what he cannot feel, and will not believe. 
— Behold here, my brethren, another striking proof 
of the depravity of the human heart, in thus oppo- 
sing the necessity of a Divine influence. For what 
saith our text ? " No man can come to me, except 
the Father, which hath sent me, draw him." No 
man : no ; not even the amiable and interesting 
young man of the Gospel, who fancied that he had 
kept all the commandments of God from his youth up, 
and whom Jesus, in the exercise of that social sympa- 
thy and benevolence which he had, as partaking of 
our human nature, regarded with a look of tender- 
ness and love. All, all have sinned, and must be 
drawn by the influence of the Holy Spirit, before 
they will resort to Jesus Christ. Ye, then, my 
brethren, who " think that ye stand, take heed lest 
ye fall." No longer, through ignorance of God's 
righteousness, " go about to establish your own." 
Acknowledge the necessity, and humbly invoke 
the aid of that Divine grace which is alone effica- 
cious to remove the film which now blinds your 
moral vision ; to enable you to see, that, al- 
though fancying youselves " rich and increased 
with goods, and in need of nothing, you are in- 
deed wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind. 



DISCOURSE XI. 155 

and naked ; M and to lead you to that Saviour 
who came not " to call the righteous, but sinners 
to repentance." 

IV. In the fourth place, Slothfulness is waiting 
for this influence. — Forgetting that we are com- 
manded to work out our own salvation with fear 
and trembling ; unmindful of the precepts, " Draw 
nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you — Cleanse 
your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye 
double- minded" — the slothful sinner excuses his 
delay and palliates his guilt by pleading in his de- 
fence the very doctrine which it is the object of 
this discourse to establish. u God alone," he says, 
" can change the heart, and therefore I will wait 
for his influence." But " the desire of the slothful 
killeth him, for his hands refuse to labour." He 
sits down satisfied in his guilt : no alarms of con- 
science, no contrition for sin, no dread of futurity can 
arouse him from this slumber of death. Not even 
the cry of " Lord, save me," escapes his lips. And 
are you sure, my fellow-sinner, that you have always 
been thus waiting for the Spirit of God to touch 
your heart ? Have you never felt his monitory sug- 
gestions and influences ? Has no religious truth of 
deep and interesting import been dropped within 
your hearing by a friend, or pressed upon your 
attention from the sacred desk by the ministers of 
God's word ? Has no salutary counsel of a watch- 
ful and tender parent been given with all the earnest 



156 DISCOURSE XI. 

solicitude of one whose life was bound up in your 
spiritual life ? Has no remarkable dispensation of 
Providence removed from you some one who was 
dear to you as the apple of your eye, or some other of 
your own age, and in your own circumstances, who 
you little thought would thus become the victim of 
the king of terrors ? Or has it never brought your- 
self to the borders of the grave ? Have you never 
felt yourself to be guilty in the sight of God, and 
trembled at the prospect of being summoned to ap- 
pear at his bar, there to render an account for all 
the deeds which you have done here in the body ? 
Has no retired walk, no midnight musing led your 
thoughts heavenward, and inclined you at least to 
hope that you might be interested in Him who is 
the Friend of sinners ? If all, if any, if even one of 
these causes, have ever aroused you to sober and 
serious reflection with regard to the eternal destiny 
of your soul, then you have not been always waiting 
for the influence of the Spirit of God. Then it has 
striven with your spirit. And it is because you have 
resisted and grieved its sacred influence, that you 
are now sunk in the arms of spiritual death. What 
do I say ? Perhaps even now this Spirit of grace 
once more deigns to descend and touch your heart. 
Oh ! yield yourself to its controul. Pray constant- 
ly and earnestly, that it may never again leave your 
breast, that it may enlighten your understanding, 
that it may purify your heart, that it may draw you 
from every other object to Jesus Christ, 



DISCOURSE XI. 157 

V. In the last place, Guilt, awakened by con- 
science to a sense of its danger, imagines that it 
truly longs for this influence, and murmurs because 
it has not received it. — And is it indeed so ? Does 
the sinner truly estimate the enormity of his wicked- 
ness, and the extent of his danger ? Is he sensible 
of his entire dependence upon the grace of God, to 
subdue the dominion of sin within his breast ? 
Does he honestly and sincerely wish that he may be 
made happy by being made holy, by being with- 
drawn in all his affections and desires from those 
forbidden objects which now occupy his mind and 
engross his heart ? He complains that he has done 
all he can do, and yet the grace of God is denied 
him. Alas ! how will this plea fail him at the bar 
of God ? Will he then be prepared to say, that day 
after day has witnessed his faithful and earnest peru- 
sal of those sacred Oracles " which are able to make 
us wise unto salvation through faith which is in Je- 
sus Christ ;" his retirement from the world, that he 
might meditate on the things which belong to his 
everlasting peace; his frequent prostration of spirit 
before the throne of God, praying, with strong cries 
and many tears, " God be merciful to me, a sinner." 
If he dare not make this plea at the judgment bar, 
let him not now impeach the justice or the goodness 
of God. Let him more carefully examine his own 
heart. Let him see whether he has indeed felt the 
pressure of his guilt, and whether he has not been 
striving and hoping all the while to do something 
which will entitle him to receive the grate of God 



158 DISCOURSE XI. 

not as a free gift, but as a merited reward. Let him, 
in fine, cast himself without reserve upon the mercy 
of that Saviour, who is able and willing to save all 
who come unto him. Then will he no longer op- 
pose the doctrine contained in our text, but from 
experience realize the truth and delight in the im- 
port of these words — " No man can come to me, 
except the Father, which hath sent me, draw him." 

Thus, my brethren, have I attempted to present 
to your consideration, some of the repugnancies 
which the sinner feels against the doctrine of Divine 
influence, and some of the perversions which he 
makes of it. You have seen how they all spring 
from the depravity of the human heart ; that none 
furnish any extenuation of our guilt, or ground of 
murmur against the justice or the goodness of God ; 
and that if still embraced and cherished, they will 
render us more and more worthy of that dreadful 
doom which awaits the finally impenitent. Let us, 
then, learn and imbibe this salutary, though hum- 
bling truth — that whatever evil we are chargeable 
with is the result of our own perverse and sinful in- 
clination ; and that all that is good within us com- 
eth down from the Source of all good — the Spirit of 
holiness and truth. No longer, with that Unbelief 
which doubts the possibility of a Divine influence ; 
that Pride which disdains it ; that Self-righteous- 
oess which does not want it : that Slothfulness 
which is waiting for it ; or that terrified Guilt which 
imagines it longs for it, and murmurs that it has not 



DISCOURSE XI. 159 

been procured by what it deems so great and un- 
wearied efforts ; no longer let any of us strive with 
these weapons of sin, against the Holy Comforter : 
let us cease this unhallowed warfare ; let us pros- 
trate ourselves at the foot of the Cross, and there 
look unto Him, and be saved, who was " lifted up. 
that he might draw all men unto him." 



DISCOURSE XII. 



john vi. 44. 



No man can come to me, except the Father, which hath 
sent me, draw him. 

Very good reason had our Saviour to utter these 
memorable words. They were addressed to a mul- 
titude of Jews, who refused to believe on him, in 
spite of the most overwhelming proofs which they 
witnessed of his Divine mission. They saw what 
many prophets and kings had desired to see, and had 
not seen, the glory of this only begotten of the Fa- 
ther, full of grace and truth, and, in him, the clear 
and striking signature of that Messiah, of whom 
Moses in the Law and the prophets did write. They 
heard the instructive lessons of Wisdom, and the 
gracious invitations of the Gospel from His lips who 
spake as never man spake. They had just been 
refreshed to the number of five thousand men, be- 
sides women and children, by a wonderful miracle of 
his power, calculated as well to remove all their 
doubts concerning Jesus, as to melt their hearts into 
gratitude and love. Indeed, their doubts seem par- 
tially, and for a little while, to have been removed. 



DISCOURSE Xlt. 161 

For when they had seen the miracles that Jesus 
did, they said, " This is of a truth that Prophet 
that should come into the world." They even 
sought to take him by force and make him a king ; 
thinking, no doubt, that he, whose hands held such 
astonishing resources for the supply of their bodily 
wants, was able also to bestow upon them more 
illustrious temporal benefits ; to rescue them and 
their nation from the yoke of Roman servitude ; to 
make the Jewish people rich, powerful, and happy ; 
and to wield, as their mighty and magnificent 
Prince, the sceptre of universal empire. For that 
they had no thoughts of bowing to him as the Deliv- 
erer of their souls from the dominion of sin, and as 
the Head of that spiritual kingdom of God, " which 
is not meat and drink, but righteousness, and peace, 
and joy in the Holy Ghost," their subsequent con- 
duct fully testified. Jesus secretly withdrew from 
their unhallowed importunity, and soon after, with 
his disciples, crossed the sea of Galilee, and entered 
into Capernaum. Thither, on the succeeding day, 
the multitude followed him : and when they had 
found him, they said unto him, " Rabbi, when 
earnest thou hither ?" Their address was respectful, 
and their conduct denoted a certain kind of attach- 
ment to Christ. But he, who knew the hearts of 
all men, said, " Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye 
seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but 
because ye did eat of the loaves and were filled." 
Then ensued a conversation between them, which, 
on the part of the Jews, was full of disrespect and 

21 



162 DISCOURSE XIL 

distrust, of captiousness and doubt, of murmuring 
and unbelief; and, on the part of our Saviour, of 
condescending instruction, sober reasoning, and 
mild reproof. His discourse, of which our text 
forms a part, seems to have had no salutary effect 
upon the multitude. Indeed, even many of his 
professed followers from that time went back and 
walked no more with him. Good reason, there- 
fore, had our Saviour to say, " No man can come 
to me, except the Father, which hath sent me, draw 
him." " No man can come to me." For, " as in 
water face answereth to face," so did the hearts of 
those Jews to the hearts of sinners of whatever age 
or nation, — to our hearts, my brethren, if we are 
not reconciled to God through Jesus Christ. In that 
case, let us turn our censure of these faithless and 
ungrateful people upon ourselves. Let us consider 
how we also, most of us in times past, and perhaps 
some of us at the present time, have rejected, or 
continue to reject, the only Saviour of our souls. 
And this, too, in spite of the most abundant and 
satisfactory proofs of his being sent from God, and 
in opposition to the most powerful motives which 
either the joys of heaven, or the pains of hell, can 
place before us. So deep is this depravity of our 
hearts, and so perverse this inclination of our wills, 
that we also cannot go to Jesus Christ for salva- 
tion, unless we are drawn to him by the influence 
of God. 

I propose, my brethren, to direct your thoughts 
to the farther contemplation of these truths, by 



DISCOURSE XII. 163 

considering — First, What is meant by the drawing 
spoken of in our text : " No man can come unto 
me, except the Father, which hath sent me, draw 
him ;" — and, secondly, Why this drawing is neces- 
sary. 

J. What is meant by the drawing spoken of in 
our text. — Its Author is the Holy Spirit, procured 
by the sufferings and intercession of Christ, and 
sent by God the Father into our miserable world, to 
accomplish the benevolent purposes of Redeeming 
Love. This mighty and mysterious Agent is every 
where spoken of in Scripture as the proper efficient 
cause of faith in Christ. It is He who rouses the 
conscience of the sinner to discern the enormity of 
his guilt, the spirituality and extent of that law r 
which he has broken, the holiness and justice of 
that Being against whom he has sinned, the dread- 
ful doom to which he stands exposed, and from 
which nothing can save him but the mercy of God 
through Jesus Christ. It is this Spirit, who, having 
thus convinced of sin, of righteousness, and of judg- 
ment, discloses to the guilty soul its forlorn and 
wretched state, guides it to the foot of the Cross, 
destroys all its proud reluctance to receive the 
pardon of God as a free and unmerited gift, and 
disposes it to rely on Jesus Christ as its only Sav- 
iour. 

Such is the effect of the drawing spoken of in oui 
text, and such its Divine original. And is it not 
the part of true humility, my brethren, to rest satis 



164 DISCOURSE XII. 

fied with this concise and scriptural account of our 
subject ? Shall we venture to explore its profound 
and mysterious abysses ? Shall we measure the 
thoughts of the infinite and incomprehensible Mind, 
by our own ? Shall we, to whom every thing that 
surrounds us is a mystery \ who are bewildered and 
lost in the contemplation of the meanest reptile that 
crawls beneath our feet ;— shall we dare to scan the 
mode in which the holy Spirit of God has access to 
our minds ; how he enlightens our understandings, 
controls our wills, regulates our affections, subdues 
our sins, renovates our hearts, and draws us to Jesus 
Christ ? Shall we attempt to reconcile the absolute 
necessity of this agency with man's entire responsi- 
bility and guilt ; or its certain and uncontrollable 
effect with his character of moral freedom ? Shall 
we do this in the hope of getting rid of difficulties, 
which, it must be confessed, attend the considera- 
tion of this subject ? Or, shall we not rather ac- 
knowledge, that we find no greater perplexities here, 
than in a thousand other topics connected with man's 
existence as an accountable or even intellectual 
being ? Shall we not, as becomes us, believe what 
Christ hath spoken, although to us mysterious and 
incomprehensible-—" No man can come to me, 
except the Father, which hath sent me, draw him ? ? ' 
But, my brethren, such is not the humility of man. 
He pries, with eager and even audacious curiosity, 
into the secret things of God. Hence it is, that so 
much has been written on the subject of Divine 
influence, with the design of rendering it plain and 



DISCOURSE XII. 165 

intelligible to the human capacity. And hence the 
necessity which is laid upon the ministers of God's 
word, sometimes to discuss this important topic, ac- 
cording to the measure of their feeble abilities, in 
order to guard it against misapprehension and mis- 
take. Suffer me, then, to lay before you a few 
thoughts, which may possibly serve to throw some 
light upon the meaning of our text. 

1. This drawing is not physical, nor mechanical, 
nor compulsory, and yet it is certain in its effect. 
It is not physical. By this I mean that it is not 
like that agency which God exercises over the ma- 
terial w r orld, and which we term, in its various devel- 
ppements and operations, " the Laws of Nature." 
The vast lights of heaven perform their accustom- 
ed rounds. Day and night, summer and winter, 
seed time and harvest, successively return. The 
vegetable and animal race spring into life, flourish, 
fade, and decay. Our own bodies carry on their 
silent and hidden processes. All this is done by the 
physical agency of God. The subject of it is matter; 
a substance, inert, senseless, and involuntary in all 
its motions. It cannot even wish to resist the hand 
of God ; and it is only by a bold figure of rhetoric, 
that it is ever spoken of as yielding obedience to his 
command. Such is not the spirit of man. To say 
that his moral character is affected by a physical 
agency of God, is to confound the use of language, 
to destroy the distinction between mind and matter, 
to reduce the human soul to a level with the clod of 
the valley. Nor is it any objection to what has just 



166 DISCOURSE XII. 

been said, that the Scriptures speak of sinners as 
being dead in trespasses and sins, and of saints as 
being created anew in Christ Jesus. Such terms 
are not to be taken in a literal sense. They des- 
cribe not the nature, but the reality, and the might, 
and the sovereignty of that Divine Agency which is 
employed in the conversion of the wicked. Those 
persons, therefore, I apprehend, pervert the right 
meaning of the word of God, who say — that sinners 
have no more power, of whatever kind, to go unto 
Christ, than the corpse has to restore itself to life, or 
the thing formed to produce its own existence. 
The sinner is able to go unto Christ, if he were only 
willing. Nothing but his own obstinacy and guilt 
prevent him. Matter has neither inclination nor 
ability to move. 

For similar reasons this drawing is not mechani- 
cal. — The principles of mechanism are nothing 
more than a certain modification and direction of 
the laws of nature. The matter, of which the ma- 
chine is composed, is as truly inert as any other 
matter. It yields an unconscious and involuntary 
obedience to the control of the artist. Such is not 
the spirit of man. His moral character cannot be 
affected by any mechanical process or agency, with- 
out destroying his free and intelligent nature. 

Nor is this drawing compulsory. Its very nature 
implies that the subject of it should be drawn to Je- 
sus Christ of his own accord, cheerfully and heartily. 
To speak of one's being compelled to become a 
Christian, is a contradiction in terms. Of what 



DISCOURSE XII. 167 

moral worth is the forced obedience of the child to 
its parent, or the constrained loyalty of the subject 
to his sovereign ? The will must yield ; it always 
does yield, when sinners are drawn to Jesus Christ. 
This drawing, therefore, may be resisted. It often 
is resisted , and when it becomes effectual, it is by 
making the sinner willing in the day of God's power. 
And it does thus become effectual whenever Divine 
Wisdom and Sovereignty so determine. For what 
saith our Saviour, in the very chapter from which 
our text is taken ? " All that the Father giveth me 
shall come to me." 

2. In the second place, This drawing is suited to 
the faculties of a rational and accountable moral 
agent. — Observe, my hearers, it is man who is 
drawn — man as he is, full of frailty and error, and 
loaded with guilt, " having his understanding dark- 
ened, being alienated from the life of God through 
the ignorance that is in him, because of the blind- 
ness of his heart :" but yet, man as he is — a being ca- 
pable of discerning between right and wrong, having 
a conscience to reprove his transgressions, an under- 
standing to discern and comprehend the doctrines 
of the Cross, and a will to be affected, if such be the 
pleasure of God, by the motives which the Gospel 
holds forth. Truth, therefore, and motives are the 
medium, through which the Spirit of God acts, in 
drawing sinners to Jesus Christ. And this truth and 
these motives are to be derived by us from no other 
source than the sacred Scriptures. " So then faith 
cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of 



16H discourse xn. 

God." Hence we read — " Of his own will begat 
he us with the word of truth ;" — and, " In Christ 
Jesus have I begotten you through the Gospel. 
As, on the one hand, therefore, we are to acknowl- 
edge the Holy Spirit as the proper efficient cause 
in drawing sinners to the Saviour ; so, on the 
other, we must be careful not to disparage the 
means which he sees fit to use. There is an econo- 
my of grace as well as of providence and of nature. 
There is a connection between the presentation of 
truth and motives to the mind and heart of the sin- 
ner, and his subsequent faith in Christ ; a connec- 
tion, indeed, independent of man, for it is constituted 
by God ; a connection, too, which is affected by 
so many hidden and intricate causes, various as 
the infinite diversity of human character and 
God's difference of providential dealing with man. 
that it eludes our view, and often disappoints our 
conjectures : yet a connection which we discover 
in general to exist, and which therefore justifies 
the conclusion, that in the kingdom of grace God 
acts by general laws, and through the instrumen- 
tality of what we term secondary causes. In all 
this, however, my brethren, God forbid that I should 
detract from the sovereignty of his grace, or the 
necessity of his proper and direct influence in lead- 
ing us to Jesus Christ. What I mean to assert is, 
that the Holy Spirit has seen fit to adopt a mode of 
acting in what relates to the salvation of sinners ; 
that this mode is, in one important respect, disclosed 
to us ; that, in this respect, it consists in using 



DISCOURSE XII. 169 

Truth, and motives derived from God's word, to 
affect the mind and heart of man ; and that such 
means, so far as we can discern, are the only means 
which are suited to a being of a rational and ac- 
countable nature. These means produce no effect 
without man's agency ; yet their efficacy depends 
on God's agency. Neglecting them, we can have 
no hope of salvation. In their use, if effectual in 
drawing us to Jesus Christ, to God will be all the 
glory. 

3. In the third place, This drawing usually dis- 
covers itself only by its effects, and is not usually 
to be distinguished from the operations of our own 
minds. — I say, usually ; for I would not deny that 
God may, in some cases, vouchsafe to manifest, by 
distinct and certain marks, his peculiar and imme- 
diate presence to the soul. But such is not usually 
the fact. His Spirit acts, but we see only its effects. 
All is under his guidance and control, yet all ap- 
pears to be our own thoughts and purposes. He leads 
us in the way in which he would have us to go, 
but his hand is unseen. He draws us to Jesus 
Christ, but we seem to ourselves to direct our steps. 
Shall we then arrogate any merit to our faith ? By 
no means. God is its Author, but he sees fit to 
conceal his agency. 

4. Hence, in the fourth place, this drawing is of 
such a nature as to render it extremely difficult, and 
in most cases impossible, to determine the precise 
time at which the sinner is first affected by it. — 
Were the agency of God in producing faith in the 

22 



170 



DISCOURSE XII. 



heart a sensible one ; were the hand which leads 
us to the Cross visible ; then might the first moment 
of our reliance upon the Saviour be most easily 
ascertained. But our spiritual state is to be esti- 
mated by a comparison of our hearts with the word 
of God. And what says this word ? The fruit of 
the Spirit is " love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gen- 
tleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." 
Now what scrutiny, my brethren — what scrupulous 
caution is necessary, in order to determine whether 
we possess these heavenly graces. Let the advan- 
ced Christian, who, like a tree planted by the rivers 
of water, hath constantly brought forth his fruit in 
his season, indulge the unwavering hope that he 
shall eternally flourish in the paradise of God. But 
how shall the young convert, whose mind has been 
tortured and distracted with a sense of his guilt, 
who has been tremblingly alive to every alternate 
suggestion of hope and despair ; who has had so 
many doubts and perplexities ; how shall he ven- 
ture to say with certainty, that at just such a mo- 
ment he passed from death unto life ? 

So far, then, as time, and scrutiny, and caution, 
are necessary to enable us to pass a judgment upon 
our spiritual state, so far it becomes difficult to de- 
termine, that at any one moment overwhelming 
evidence was afforded us of our having an interest 
in Christ. Still I would be far from saying that 
this is not sometimes the case. What I have offer- 
ed is in the way of caution to those who think it 
necessary, or even important that the believer 



DISCOURSE XII. 171 

should be able to ascertain precisely, or nearly so, 
when his faith in Christ had its commencement. 

II. Having thus attempted to throw some light, 
however faint, upon this difficult subject of Divine 
influence, I proceed, in the second place, to con- 
sider why the drawing spoken of in our text is ne- 
cessary, " No man can come to me, except the 
Father, which hath sent me, draw him." — Observe, 
my brethren, the impossibility here spoken of is 
simply that which results from the want of inclina- 
tion in the sinner to go to Christ. It is that same 
impossibility which the froward child pleads, when 
he says to his parent, " I cannot perform this or 
that act of obedience." It is that same impossibil- 
ity to which we refer, when we say of the invete- 
rate sot, that he cannot renounce his cups. Now 
the lamentable fact is, that we are all by nature 
prone to sin. We are attached to our own selfish 
and sensual interest. We are unwilling to love God 
with our whole soul, and strength, and mind, and 
our neighbour as ourselves. Although conscience 
condemns us, and would justify God in passing his 
sentence of condemnation upon us; although we 
see that there is no hope of reconciliation with 
God, but through the death and merits of Jesus 
Christ ; still we are unwilling to submit to the 
righteousness of God, and to be interested in the 
great propitiation which has been made for sin. 
Hence we cannot go to Christ. In other words, we 
will not. So deep and thorough is this depravity 



172 DISCOURSE XII. 

of the human heart, as the Scripture every where 
teaches us, that there is no hope for man but in the 
sovereign mercy of God. If left to himself, it is 
morally impossible that he should be saved. And, 
my hearers, can we want proof of this ? Alas ! we 
find it near at hand — in our own hearts. Is there 
any one motive which we can conceive, that God 
does not this day present to our minds to lead us 
to Jesus Christ ? He promises to the believer com- 
plete deliverance from the burden and punishment 
of guilt, his continual protection and blessing in 
this life, and beyond the grave an immortality of 
bliss. Why, then, do any of us reject the Saviour ? 
Why is it that we cannot go to Christ, unless drawn 
thither by the Spirit of God ? Let conscience an 
swero 

A few reflections, by way of improvement, will 
conclude this discourse. 

In the first place, how careful should we be not 
to reject or pervert the doctrine of a Divine influ- 
ence, because it is attended with some apparent 
difficulties ! It is the part of wisdom and good sense 
to be humble and modest. The greater the prog- 
ress made by the philosopher in intellectual im- 
provement, the greater reason, has he to pause and 
admire the wonders, and even mysteries, of creation. 
As we advance also in the knowledge of Divine 
truth, we should learn to bow with the most com- 
plete prostration of soul before the infinite and eter- 
nal One, and to exclaim, with devout humility, 



DISCOURSE XII. 17S 

that, " as the heavens are higher than the earth, so 
are his ways higher than our ways, and his thoughts 
than our thoughts." 

You have seen, my brethren, that the drawing 
spoken of in our text is every way worthy of God, 
and suited to man, as a rational, accountable, and 
withal sinful, being. Do not, I beseech you, let 
any seeming difficulties which may attend the sub- 
ject, and which result from our weak and limited 
understandings, and, perhaps, too often from our 
wayward hearts, lead you to despise or resist that 
influence which is necessary to lead us to Jesus 
Christ. 

In the second place, if it be true that the Spirit of 
God acts through the instrumentality of truth and 
motives, how dreadful is the situation of those who 
neglect the public ministration of God's word, and 
the frequent and careful perusal of the sacred Scrip- 
tures ! These are " able to make us wise unto sal- 
vation through faith which is in Jesus Christ." In 
them we learn the character of God, and of his Son. 
In them we behold, as in a glass, our own deformity 
and guilt. In them are placed before us the most 
cogent motives which can be drawn either from 
the joys of heaven or the pains of hell, to induce us 
to lay hold of the hope which is set before us in the 
Gospel. He, therefore, who wilfully closes his eyes 
against this Divine light ; who makes the Bible, as 
to himself, a sealed book ; who endeavours to es- 
cape from the very hearing of the proclamation of 
peace ; how can he expect aught of God, but an 



174 DISCOURSE xu ? 

entire withdrawment of his restraining grace, and a 
complete abandonment to sin and ruin ? 

In the third place, If the influences of the Holy 
Spirit are not usually to be distinguished from the 
operations of our own minds ; or, in other words, if 
we can discover them only in their effects by their 
directing and controling our thoughts, emotions and 
purposes ; how watchful should Christians be over 
their own hearts ! " Every good gift and every perr 
feet gift, my brethren, is from above, and cometh 
down from the Father of lights." To God are you 
indebted for all your moments of sober thought on 
the vanities of this life, and the awful realities of the 
future. Do you ever, amid the busy and fascinating 
scenes of the world, chide yourselves for consenting 
too much to its spirit, and imbibing too readily its 
maxims ? Does conscience ever smite you for 
yielding to a temptation or neglecting a duty, which, 
in the view of the world, is too insignificant to de- 
mand the notice of your moral judgment ? Are you 
sometimes inclined, even amid your cares and bu- 
siness, to direct the eye of faith to your heavenly 
Father, and to supplicate the continuance of his 
mercy and his grace ? Resist not, I beseech you, 
these heavenly suggestions. Grieve not the Holy 
Spirit, who thus calmly and silently leads your 
thoughts heavenward, and sheds abroad his love and 
his graces in your hearts. Do not rest satisfied with 
those Divine influences, which purify and elevate 
the holy soul in its secret retirements or seasons of 
social devotion. God is ever with you, although 



DISCOURSE XII. 175 

you see him not ; his grace is ever ready for those 
who sincerely seek it, although the nature of its 
operation may elude their research. Watch over 
your hearts, then, that they may become fit temples 
for the residence of the Holy Spirit. So shall you 
be more and more cheered in this pilgrimage of 
trial, by the constant presence and guidance of 
God, until you reach at last the holy city, the new 
Jerusalem, where " the sun shall be no more your 
light by day ; neither for brightness shall the moon 
give light unto you ; but the Lord shall be unto you 
an everlasting light, and your God, your glory." 

Again ; As the influences of the Holy Spirit are 
usually to be discovered only in their effects upon 
our own minds, then let the sinner beware how he 
attempts to stifle the alarms of conscience, to banish 
sober reflection from his mind, or to check any in- 
clination which he may feel to attend to the things of 
his everlasting peace. Perhaps, God's Spirit may 
now be striving with his spirit. Let him dread, 
then, to resist its monitory suggestions, lest haply he 
be found fighting against God. 

Finally, how deep and entire must be the de- 
pravity of the human heart which renders necessary 
the interposition of God's Spirit to draw sinners 
unto Jesus Christ. O let him who continues to 
reject the Saviour, ponder well this momentous and 
alarming truth : it is one which our Saviour uttered 
in the hearing of his unbelieving countrymen : " Ye 
will not come unto me, that ye may have life !' c 
" No man can come to me, except the Father, which 



176 DISCOURSE XII. 

hath sent me, draw him." Yes, my hearers, we ail 
lie at the mercy of our offended Sovereign. We 
can do nothing that will make us deserving of his 
favour. If abandoned to ourselves, we must perish. 
We have only one hope left : —it is that of the 
drowning mariner, that some arm may be extended 
to save him. We have only one Refuge : — it is the 
Cross of Christ, 



DISCOURSE XIIL 



acts iii. 19. 



Repent ye, therefore, and be converted, that your sins 
may be blotted out 

These words are part of an address delivered by 
the Apostle Peter to a Jewish multitude, in the 
temple at Jerusalem, soon after the ascension of 
Christ. The occasion was this — " Peter and John 
went up together into the temple, at the hour of 
prayer, being the ninth hour. And a certain man, 
lame from his mother's womb, was carried, whom 
they laid daily at the gate of the temple, that is 
called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered 
into the temple : who, seeing Peter and John about 
to go into the temple, asked an alms. And Peter, 
fastening his eyes upon him, with John, said, Look 
on us. And he gave heed unto them, expecting 
to receive something of them. Then Peter said, 
Silver and gold have I none ; but such as I have 
give I thee : In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, 
rise up and walk. And he took him by the right 
hand and lifted him up ; and immediatelv his an- 
23 



178 DISCOURSE XIII. 

cle-bones received strength. And he leaping up. 
stood, and walked, and entered with them into the 
temple, walking and praising God. And all the 
people saw him walking and praising God. And 
they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the 
beautiful gate of the temple ; and they were filled 
with wonder and amazement at that which had 
happened unto him. And as the lame man which 
was healed held Peter and John, all the people ran 
together unto them in the porch that is called Sol- 
omon's, greatly wondering. And when Peter saw 
it, he answered unto the people — Ye men of Israel, 
why marvel ye at this ? or why look ye so earnestly 
on us, as though by our own power or holiness we 
had made this man to walk? The God of Abraham, 
and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, 
hath glorified his Son Jesus ; whom ye delivered 
up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when 
he was determined to let him go. But ye denied 
the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer 
to be granted unto you ; and killed the Prince of 
Life, whom God hath raised from the dead, where- 
of we are witnesses ; and his name, through faith in 
his name, hath made this man strong, whom ye see 
and know ; yea, the faith which is by him, hath 
given him this perfect soundness in the presence of 
you all. And now, brethren, I wot that through 
ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers.— But 
those things, which God before had shewed by 
the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should 
suffer, he hath so fulfilled. Repent ye, therefore, 



DISCOURSE XIII. 179 

and be converted, that your sins may be blotted 
out." 

Such was the occasion on which Peter addres- 
sed his countrymen in the words of our text. — 
They were full of amazement at the miracle which 
had been wrought, and which they were disposed 
to attribute to some inherent power or holiness in 
the Apostles. With what admiring and fearful 
attention would they listen to the words of Peter ! 
What an ascendency had he acquired over their 
minds ! Had he now chosen to wreak his vengeance 
upon these murderers of his beloved Master, how 
might he have overwhelmed them with terror and 
dismay, by denouncing upon them the curses just- 
ly due to those who had crucified the Lord of 
glory! But grace had softened the heart of Peter, 
and every feeling of resentment was sacrificed to 
the more noble and generous object of proclaiming 
pardon even to the chief of sinners. 

Equally benevolent, my hearers, is still the spirit 
of the Gospel; and to us who are so justly deserv- 
ing of the Divine vengeance, to us who have cruci- 
fied the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open 
shame by our infidelity, our disobedience, and our 
guilt ; to us this very Saviour speaks, to-day, in the 
words of our text, " Repent ye, therefore, and be 
converted, that your sins may be blotted out." 

Let us, then, with humble and penitent hearts, 
remembering that we stand in the presence of that 
God who hath commanded men every where to 
repent, and who hath denounced the most dreadful 



ISO DISCOURSE XIII. 

anguish upon the finally impenitent ; let us en- 
deavour to ascertain what is the duty of repen- 
tance, and be excited, under the influence of the 
Holy Spirit, to a constant practice of it, by consid- 
ering, 

First, Its nature ; 

Secondly, Its necessity ; — and, 

Thirdly, The motives that should lead to it 

I. We are to consider the nature of repentance. 
— To do this it is necessary to observe, that there 
are two words in the original Greek of the New 
Testament, both of which our translators have ren- 
dered by the term " repentance," although they 
have meanings, in some important respects, very 
different from each other. One signifies a mere 
wish that some part of our past conduct had been 
otherwise, without any regard to its moral nature or 
consequences. The other denotes such a cordial, 
sincere, and permanent sorrow for all that we discov- 
er to be wrong in our past life, as will lead to a radi- 
cal reformation of our whole moral character. It is 
the last which is used in our text, and, indeed, in all 
other passages which speak of genuine evangelical 
repentance. So that no notion can be more un- 
scriptural or absurd than that held by some Papists, 
that repentance is a grace to be exercised at stated 
intervals, as a sort of penance ; a duty which is to 
cancel, at one stroke, all past transgressions, and 
which, indeed, may be deferred till the last moment 
of dissolution. 



DISCOURSE XIII. 181 

Very different from this is that repentance which 
is enjoined by the Gospel. 

So far from being a desultory duty to be perfor- 
med at intervals, it is a fixed habit of the soul, im- 
plying a constant detestation of sin, a lively regret 
for all we have committed, and a steady purpose of 
thorough and universal amendment. It requires in 
its possessor an enlightened and discriminating con- 
science ; for how can we sorrow for sin, unless we 
understand what it is ? 

The true penitent, therefore, has correct views of 
the infinite excellence and purity of God's charac- 
ter ; of the indispensible obligation of all intelligent 
creatures, to obey his law which is holy, and just, 
and good ; of the injury done to his authority, by 
the violation of this law ; of the necessity of guard- 
ing it by a severe penalty, and of the justice of that 
sentence which inflicts everlasting punishment on 
every offender. Nor are these views of sin merely 
speculative : they touch the heart of the true peni- 
tent with deep humility and contrition. For he 
reckons himself among the chief of sinners ; his 
iniquities overwhelmn him with shame and confu- 
sion of face ; he considers them as committed 
against that Being to whom he is indebted for all 
that renders existence desirable — against that Sa- 
viour who freely gave himself a propitiatory sacri- 
fice for the sins of the world — against that Spirit 
whose monitory suggestions and attractive in- 
fluences have so often pointed the way, and urg- 
ed him to walk in the path to heaven. Memory 



182 DISCOURSE XIII. 

spreads before him the scenes of his past life, and 
day after day passing in review testifies to the enor- 
mity of his ingratitude and his guilt. How many 
moments have been wasted iii slothful and criminal 
supineness ! How many have been devoted to the 
gratification of the " lust of the flesh, the lust of the 
eyes, and the pride of life !" And how have all, 
even those which have witnessed in his breast some 
fervent aspirations after holiness, and earnest, though 
imperfect, attempts at obedience, been sullied by 
some lurking corruption ? For all this he grieves, 
not merely, nor principally, because such conduct 
has exposed him to the dreadful penalty of the law, 
but because he has been evil and unthankful to 
him whose very nature is " love." With the Psalm- 
ist, he is ready to exclaim, " Against thee, thee 
only have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight." 
The true penitent laments also the remaining 
depravity of his heart. Even in his most pure and 
holy moments — in those which witness the flight of 
his affections from earth to heaven, and the ineffa- 
ble communion of his spirit with the Father of 
spirits — even then, while he discovers how some 
selfish and sinful desire insinuates itself into his 
soul, he feels the deepest and most hearty repent- 
ance for his present guilt ; for he then is best able 
to detect its true and odious character, by contrast- 
ing it with his clear apprehension of real purity and 
holiness of heart. And if such seasons, imbued 
with so sweet a savour of things heavenly and di- 
vine, and affording a prelibation of that blissful 



DISCOURSE XIII. 183 

state where sin can never enter, — if even such sea- 
sons demand repentance and reliance upon the 
merits of Christ, what deep sorrow will the true 
penitent feel as he observes his affections becoming 
more gross and more tainted with the corrupt influ- 
ence of the world ! How 7 often will he exclaim, with 
the Apostle, " O wretched man that I am ! who 
shall deliver me from the body of this death ?" 
And sensible, from past experience, of his ignor- 
ance, and weakness, and guilt, he will tremble at 
the dreary prospect of a life which is always to be 
spotted with sin ; resolving, however, by the aid of 
Divine grace, to struggle with the world, the flesh, 
and the devil, and, when he fails, ever to feel the 
deepest contrition and sorrow. 

Such, my brethren, is the nature of genuine 
repentance. It is a fixed habit of the soul, under 
the direction of an enlightened conscience, discern- 
ing well between right and wrong, and sensible of 
the immense evil of sin. It implies a constant and 
cordial detestation of sin, a lively regret for all 
which we have committed, and a steady purpose of 
thorough and universal amendment. 

II. I proceed, in the second place, to consider the 
necessity of this duty. — It is necessary to satisfy the 
demands of conscience. So powerful is this faith- 
ful monitor within our breasts, that it will be satis- 
fied with no extenuation of our past guilt — with 
nothing short of sincere repentance. The sinner is 
on this account unhappy, for he stands self-condem- 



184 DISCOURSE XIII. 

ned. He knows that he has violated the holy law 
of God, and that he deserves the Divine displea- 
sure. He regrets that his transgressions must meet 
their deserved reward ; but, alas ! his sorrow is 
entirely selfish, and is not of a godly sort. And 
hence arises the evidence to his own mind, that be- 
ing still impenitent, he yet retains his past sinful 
disposition ; which is, indeed, itself the root of all 
his transgressions, and which, therefore, renders him 
still an object of the just displeasure of God. Re- 
morse, therefore, for the past, and dreadful forebo- 
dings of the future, often fasten upon his soul. 
Dismal and terrible are his anticipations of that 
future world of woe, the anguish of which will re- 
ceive its keenest poignancy from the fact that repen- 
tance will forever be a stranger to its miserable 
inhabitants. 

Again ; Repentance is necessary to ensure any 
prospect of future amendment. — Perhaps there is 
scarcely a man living, except some solitary mon- 
ster of iniquity, whose vast and complicated enor- 
mities have blunted every perception of the moral 
sense, and produced that consummation of deprav- 
ity the perpetration of crime for its own sake ; who 
does not hope at a future period to correct some 
sinful propensities which he now acknowledges in 
his own heart. But, alas! how foolish and unwise 
are our judgments on all moral subjects, while sin 
retains its empire in the breast ! Future amendment 
is intended while past and present guilt excites no 
penitential sorrow. As well may the intemperate 



DISCOURSE XIII. 185 

man promise himself a future deliverance from the 
miserable thraldom of his appetite, while continu- 
ing to enjoy his cups. He, who sincerely hopes 
ever to hate sin, must now hate it: he who antici- 
pates future reformation, must now exercise un- 
feigned repentance. 

Again ; Repentance is necessary to procure the 
pardon of our past sins, and the protection and fa- 
vour of God.— I do not mean by this, my brethren, 
that repentance, however hearty and unfeigned, 
can make atonement for guilt, or recompense the 
injury done to the Divine government by our viola- 
tion of its just laws. It may, indeed, render its 
possessor a proper object of the Divine favour ; it 
may prepare him for obedience hereafter ; but can 
never remedy the evil of his past offences — for those 
offences have endeavoured to oppose the rightful 
dominion of the Sovereign of the universe, and to 
introduce anarchy, confusion, and woe, into his 
intelligent creation. 

I know there are those who teach a different doc- 
trine — who give such a virtue to repentance as to 
make it obliterate all past guilt, and satisfy the de- 
mands of Divine Justice. I will not stop to con- 
fute this notion, so dishonourable to the cause of 
the Redeemer, and so destructive of the souls of 
men, by placing it in the light of human reason 
alone, which, when investigating religious truth, 
affords such imperfect aid, not to say deceptive 
guidance. 

24 



186 DISCOURSE XIII. 

Let Jesus Christ be our Guide : let us cast ont 
look at Calvary, and ask, Why there the Cross was 
erected ? It sustains in excruciating torture the only 
begotten Son of God. Unlike the holy martyrs, 
whose souls, sublimed (so to speak) by their last 
agonies, are almost emancipated from their prison 
of clay before they quite leave it, and enjoy a sweet 
prelibation of that blissful presence of God, to which 
they will soon be introduced in its more full beauty 
and lustre — this holiest of martyrs, this pure and 
spotless Being, is overwhelmed with the tremen- 
dous consummation of his great work, and exclaims 
— " My God ! my God ! why hast thou forsaken 
me ?" What ! does not the recollection of his past 
innocence sustain him in the trying hour ? Is He, 
the Holy One of God, denied that consolation 
which has been so often afforded to some of His 
humble followers ? He cries with a loud voice, and 
yields up the ghost. Nature bears witness to the 
dignity of the Sufferer, and to the value of his 
death, by prodigies the most awful and portentous. 

And can you, my brethren, believe that this ter- 
rible tragedy is acted merely to give Jesus Christ 
an opportunity of placing before his disciples an 
example of patient resignation and obedience to 
the will of God ; — of meek forbearance under the 
grossest injuries, sealing the truth of his divine mis- 
sion by a martyrdom so singular and dreadful ? To 
suppose this, is to insult God, by impeaching his 
benevolence and his wisdom ; — his benevolence, 



DISCOURSE XIII. 187 

by imposing so heavy a weight of suffering upon an 
innocent victim, when every purpose might have 
been answered by a death less excruciating to both 
body and soul ; — his wisdom, for sure it was to be 
expected that a death so awful, and marked with 
such prodigies, would naturally lead every behold 
er to attach to it a value infinitely above that ascri- 
bed to common martyrdom. The terrible majesty 
of our Saviour's death would then be calculated to 
lead all who became acquainted with it into the 
grossest error. 

But, my brethren, the sacrifice of this Lamb of 
God had a meaning most awful and momentous : 
it testified, that without shedding of blood, there is 
no remission of sin. It proved to the universe of 
God, the awful inflexibility of his justice ; and that 
sin, even in this little world, this corner of his vast 
dominions, was such an outrage upon the economy 
of his government, and, if suffered to pass with im- 
punity, would be so destructive of universal happi- 
ness, that, to atone for it, no less a sacrifice than the 
Son of God was necessary. This sacrifice, too, had 
a meaning most gracious and condescending. It 
testified, that such was the benevolence of God to- 
ward those who had rebelled against him, that he 
was willing to devise some means by which his 
honour might be preserved, and yet they restored to 
favour. Hence was Christ wounded for our trans- 
gressions, and bruised for our iniquities : the chas- 
tisement of our peace was upon him ; and with his 
stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone 



188 DISCOURSE XIII. 

astray ; we have turned every one to his own way ; 
and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us 
all. Now God can be just, and yet the justifier of 
him who believes in Jesus. When I say> therefore, 
that repentance is necessary, if we would obtain 
the pardon of our past sins, and the protection and 
favour of God, I do not mean, that it alone is ne- 
cessary. To repentance toward God must be join- 
ed faith in our Lord Jesus Christ ; — the one, to 
teach us the greatness of our guilt by leading us to 
rely solely on the merits of the Saviour for recon- 
ciliation with God ; — the other, to produce within 
us that deep humility and self-abasement, that god- 
ly sorrow and contrition for sin, and that earnest 
purpose of amendment, which are so necessary to 
prepare us for approaching to the presence of Him 
who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity.' 7 

III. Let us now, in the last place, consider the 
motives which should lead us to repentance. They 
are disclosed in our text— u Repent ye, therefore, 
and be converted ; that your sins may be blotted 
out." Sincere repentance, then, regards the oblit- 
eration of guilt from the table of our own hearts, 
and from the book of God's remembrance. And 
did we, my brethren, duly appreciate these two 
motives to repentance, how ready and anxious 
should we be to exercise this chief of Christian gra- 
ces ! Think what it is to be freed from the dominion 
of sjn — no more to feel the influence of those wick- 
ed passions and lusts which war against the soul ; 



DISCOURSE XIII. 189 

and which, even in the enjoyment of their most fa- 
vourite objects, so far from conferring true peace on 
the bosom in which they reside, serve only to dis- 
tract and harrass it with care, anxiety, remorse, and 
woe. Think what it is to have these enemies of our 
real happiness destroyed, and in their place to feel 
the sweet dominion of love toward God, and good- 
will to man. 

Repentance produces this happy change. Peace 
of conscience, and joy in the Holy Ghost, reign 
within the bosom. All is calm and cheerful. In- 
deed, God himself, the source of all good, conde- 
scends to occupy the heart of the truly penitent. 
M For thus saith the High and the Holy One that 
inhabiteth eternity, whose name is holy — I dwell 
in the high and holy place, with Him also that is 
of a humble and contrite spirit, to revive the spirit 
of the humble, and to revive the heart of the con- 
trite ones." And here, my brethren, we are fur- 
nished with a test of the sincerity of our repentance. 
Do we seek and exercise repentance, in order to 
purify the heart, and free it from the dominion of 
sin ? Do we grieve for our past and present guilt, 
because it is such base ingratitude against the Best 
of Beings ? In fine, do we sorrow for sin, because 
we detest it in all its shapes, however fascinating — 
in all its forms, however disguised so as to be taken 
by a corrupt world as innocent and lawful — in all 
its subtle and ingenious devices, seducing us to 
comply with certain maxims and customs of this 
oinful age, under pretence of rendering virtue more 



190 DISCOURSE XIII. 

lovely and attractive ; — I say, do we sorrow for sin, 
because we detest it in these its more refined work- 
ings, as well as in its grosser attacks upon our pu- 
rity of heart and life ? Much, however, as this 
disinterested detestation of sin is necessary, as a 
constituent, and indeed prominent trait of genuine 
repentance ; and much as we ought to be excited 
to this duty, that the influence of sin on our hearts 
may be entirely destroyed ; there is still another 
motive to repentance in our text, addressed to that 
love of our own safety and happiness, which no 
principle of our religion forbids us to indulge. 

The expression, " that your sins may be blotted 
out," when compared with other similar phrases in 
Scripture, evidently refers to a deliverance from 
that punishment justly due to transgression. God, 
then, has been pleased to declare, that sincere re- 
pentance, which always implies a cordial faith in 
Christ, is necessary to save us from the wrath 
to come. How terrible is the danger, how tre- 
mendous the doom, to which we are exposed by 
sin ; and yet how simple the condition of deliver- 
ance ! — repentance toward God and faith in our 
Lord Jesus Christ. Alas ! could we hesitate a 
moment to comply with this condition, did we but 
fully realize the importance of these words — " The 
wrath to come ?" 

Painful is the task, my hearers, with the minis- 
ters of God's word, to point to sinners the sad ter- 
mination of their career of wickedness. And, some- 
times, this would seem but to render more callous 



DISCOURSE XIII. 191 

the heart of the sinner ; perhaps, because of the 
familiarity of most minds educated in Christian 
lands with this awful subject ; or, in some cases, 
because it attacks that disdain of cowardice, which, 
in a few souls, lofty, bold and heroic amid all the 
dangers of this life, would shrink from the suspicion 
of fearing even that dread Being, who can, with a 
word, sink them to their original nothing, or consign 
them to irremediable woe. 

But, my hearers, if such be your choice, lay aside 
for a moment, I beseech you, this sad insensibility, 
— this presumptuous daring. Be alive to your own 
true interest — mock not the information of your real 
danger. Look forward a little through the succes- 
sive changes of your future life. Like the present, 
they will, perhaps, continue to rouse some of you to 
the ardour and bustle of "business : some to the 
fascinations of pleasure ; and others to the chase of 
fame. Day after day will roll by, furnishing, each 
in its turn, a sad memento to your weary minds, 
that all below is " vanity and vexation of spirit." 
Think not the world will ever afford you more 
happiness than at present. The hour of your de- 
parture will at length arrive, of your final adieu to 
this world, of your entrance upon that future state of 
being, in which God has declared, that he that en- 
ters unholy, shall be unholy still ; and if unholy, 
then miserable, and miserable for ever. 

O ! tremble, then, at the sentence, which awaits 
the finally impenitent. Our Saviour will himself 
pronounce, " Depart, ye cursed, into everlasing fire. 



192 DISCOURSE XIII. 

prepared for the devil and his angels." Shudder at 
the thought of entering that dismal abode of woe, 
" where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not 
quenched." Fear him who thus holds the awful 
sceptre of a dominion most just and holy. His 
justice is arrayed in dreadful majesty, and well may 
strike his enemies with terror. His mercy is cloth- 
ed with condescension and pity : it breathes pardon 
to all the truly penitent : it points to Jesus Christ, 
who is able to save to the uttermost all who come 
unto God by him : it addresses us, this day, in the 
language of our text, " Repent ye, therefore, and be 
converted, that your sins may be blotted out." 



DISCOURSE XIV. 



HEBREWS Xii. % 



Looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our 

faith. 

In the chapter preceding that from which the 
words of the text are taken, the Apostle traces, in 
a brief outline, the history of the faithful. From 
Abel to the prophets, he describes the lineage of 
the children of God, and by a succession of illustri- 
ous examples, shews how the same spirit of faith 
confirmed and cheered the hopes of all the saints 
of old, under their severest trials and sufferings. 
God was the object of their firm and unshaken con- 
fidence. Leaning on the arm of Omnipotence, and 
looking for their final reward beyond all that lies on 
this side the grave, they trusted every promise and 
obeyed every call of Jehovah, through whatever 
path of difficulty and danger it might lead them. 
The proof of their faith, though severe, was short. 
The pilgrimage was soon ended, and its wanderings, 
though often sad and weary, conducted them, one 
after the other, to the Canaan of eternal rest. 
11 Wherefore," says the Apostle, animated by the 

<?,5 



194 DISCOURSE XIV. 

bright vision of the long train of worthies which had 
just passed before his eye, and giving vent to all the 
fervour of his bold and ardent spirit — " Wherefore, 
seeing we also are compassed about with so great a 
cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, 
and the sin that doth so easily beset us, and let us 
run with patience the race that is set before us ; 
looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our 
faith, who, for the joy that was set before him, en- 
dured the cross, despising the shame, and is set 
down at the right hand of the throne of God." In 
this beautiful and cogent exhortation, the Apostle 
alludes to certain public games which were com- 
mon at that time in the pagan world. At these 
games were various exhibitions of strength and agil- 
ity, among which not the least conspicuous was 
running on foot for some prize of victory. The 
competitors in such races were well prepared for 
the contest. They took care beforehand, by a 
proper regimen and discipline, to give their bodies 
all the strength and vigour of which they were sus- 
ceptible ; they divested themselves at the race of 
every useless incumbrance ; they caught the spirit 
of emulation from the gaze of the surrounding 
spectators, among whom were many who had pre- 
viously taken a part in the same games, and were 
wearing the laurels of their triumph ; they fixed a 
steady eye on the goal which was before them, 
and, rushing impetuously forward, sought a fading 
crown of glory from the hand of the director and 
arbiter of the contest. 



DISCOURSE XIV. 19£l 



O 



To such a scene did Paul allude, when he ex- 
horted the Hebrew Christians to run with patience 
the race that was set before them. He ura:es them 
to be animated by the example of the many worthies 
of whom he had been speaking, and whom he des- 
cribes, by a bold figure of rhetoric, as looking down 
from their seats of bliss on the theatre of this lower 
world, to witness the struggles which the followers 
of Christ were making to procure an incorruptible 
crown. He directs them to cast away every weight 
of sin which might impede their course, and, above 
all, he calls them to look unto Jesus, the Author 
and Finisher of his and their faith, the great Super- 
intendant of the holy contest in which they were 
engaged, the final Arbiter of their destiny, and from 
whom they would receive the glorious reward of 
all their toils and sufferings. 

My brethren, it is our duty to run the same race 
of Christian perseverance, and, if we are faithful 
unto the death, it will be our happiness also to 
receive that crown of glory which fadeth not away. 
We, too, have all the motives of encouragement 
and consolation which Paul addressed to the He- 
brew Christians ; but waving all the rest, let us 
confine our attention to this single consideration, 
that Jesus is both the Author and Finisher of our 
faith. Let us endeavour to understand this truth 
in its proper extent and importance, and then make 
such a practical use of it, as will tend, under the 
blessing of God, to confirm and advance us in our 
Christian course. For this purpose 1 propose to 



196 DISCOURSE XIV, 

consider, — 1st, In what respects Jesus is the Author 
of our faith, — 2dly, In what respects he is the Fin- 
isher of it, — and 3dly, How we are to look unto Him 
in this interesting character. 

I. Let us consider in what respects Jesus is the 
Author of our faith. 

1. He is the Author of our faith, by accomplishing 
those events in the economy of God's government, 
which were necessary to open the way for the pro- 
mulgation of the doctrines of the Cross. — These 
doctrines all harmonize and centre in one point, the 
reconciliation of sinful man to the offended Majesty 
of heaven, through Jesus Christ. But how w 7 as 
this proclamation of mercy to be made to a world 
of rebels, without infringing the authority of God's 
law ; without sullying the honor of his government ; 
without shaking the stability of his throne ? Infinite 
Wisdom solved these tremendous difficulties, and de- 
vised a scheme of redemption which should be as il- 
lustrious in displaying the justice as the mercy of God. 
The Son of God condescended to pour out his blood 
for the remission of sin, that God might be just, and 
yet the justifier of him who believes in Jesus. The 
cross was to sustain a Victim so pure, so immacu- 
late, so holy — what do I say ? it was to bear on its 
torturing arms the Son of God himself — cne who 
declared himself equal to the Father — a dying 
spectacle to angels and to men, to prove that sin 
could be expiated by no sacrifice less costly. Now, 
my brethren, elevate your minds to the contempla- 



DISCOURSE XIV. 197 

(ion of this august and awful scene ; the Son of God 
descending from heaven and dying on Calvary, to 
ransom our ruined race from the dreadful conse- 
quences of sin : think, too, how much was to be 
done to prepare the way for so astonishing an event. 
From the time that the consoling prophecy was 
given, that the seed of the woman should bruise the 
head of the serpent, to that awful moment of con- 
summating the work of redemption, when Jesus 
exclaimed, " It is finished " — in this long lapse of 
ages, how many grand events must transpire before 
the " fulness of time" could come ! A deluge must 
sweep from the earth its sinful inhabitants, a chosen 
few must be preserved to re-people the world. 
Their descendants must be scattered abroad. A- 
braham must be called from his kindred, and a 
solemn covenant be made with him by Jehovah, to 
preserve in his seed the line of the faithful. His de- 
scendants must be led forth from their Egyptian 
bondage. The law must be given from mount 
Sinai. The Jewish economy must be established. 
The heathen must be scattered before the children 
of Israel, and themselves established in the promis- 
ed land. They must become a distinct people, 
separated from the rest of the world to retain 
the knowledge of the true God, and to furnish a 
parentage for the expected deliverer of mankind. 
But the time would fail me to tell of the vast 
changes which this wonderful people experienced : 
of the revolutions too, which were all the while 



198 DISCOURSE XIV. 

taking place in the Gentile world—the rise and fall 
of empires, the progress of arts and sciences, the 
turning and overturning of the great mass of human 
affairs and projects, by ail of which the way was 
preparing to usher in one simple but grand event ; 
the sacrifice on the cross of the only begotten Son 
of God. 

Now, who had the controul of this astonishing 
order of things ? Who superintended and directed 
these momentous events ? It was the Son of God 
himself, as we are abundantly taught in Scripture ; 
He who was in the beginning with God, and was 
God ; by whom all things were made, and by 
whose providential agency they have continually 
been sustained. He took on himself the whole 
work of redemption in its preparation, its pro- 
gress, and its consummation. After having guided 
by his controlling hand the long train of events 
which must precede his appearance in our world, 
when the fulness of time was come, he left the 
bosom of his Father, took upon himself the form 
of a servant, and became obedient unto death, 
even the death of the cross. Then, and not till 
then, could repentance and remission of sin be 
preached in his name. Then, and not till then, 
could the doctrines of the Cross, the great object of 
the Christian's faith and confidence, be fully un- 
folded and explained. Let us look then, my breth- 
ren, unto Jesus as the Author of our faith, because 
he hath accomplished those events in the economy 



DISCOURSE XIV. I9t* 

of God's government, which were necessary to open 
the way for the promulgation of the doctrines of the 
Cross. 

2. Jesus is the Author of our faith, by having 
promulgated himself, and by his Apostles, the doc- 
trines of the Cross. — After the way was opened for 
the pardon of sin, and for man's acceptance with 
God, by the obedience, the sufferings, and the death 
of Christ, it was still necessary that the meaning of 
these wonderful events should be explained. Oth- 
erwise, they would have been shrouded in impen- 
etrable mystery : and man, though so deeply inter- 
ested in them, could only have gazed on them with 
wonder and awe. Our Saviour, therefore, before 
his crucifixion, and his Apostles more fully after it ? 
taught the connection between his sufferings, obe- 
dience, and death, and man's salvation. They 
taught, that by the blood of Jesus, a full pardon oi 
guilt might be obtained, and that the simple condi- 
tions of this pardon were, repentance toward God, 
and faith in Jesus Christ. These doctrines of the 
Cross, my brethren, have reached our ears. The 
Son of God, who now guides and governs the affairs 
of this lower world, hath distinguished us by his 
providence from thousands of our fellow men, by 
placing in our hands the records of his sufferings and 
death, and by instructing us how we may become 
interested in the atonement which he has made for 
sin. From him emanates the light of religious truth, 
which beams upon us in meridian lustre. To him, 
therefore, let us look, as the Author of our faith, 



200 DISCOURSE XIV. 

because he hath by himself, and by his Apostles, 
promulgated the doctrines of the Cross. 

3. Jesus is the Author of our faith, by produ- 
cing this grace within us, through the influences of 
the Holy Spirit. It was not enough, my brethren, 
for our Saviour to accomplish those events which 
were necessary to prepare the way for the pro- 
mulgation of the doctrines of the Cross. It was 
not enough for him to have promulgated, by him- 
self and his Apostles, these doctrines so glorious 
to God, and so interesting to man. The most 
difficult part of his work yet remained to be ac- 
complished ; the greatest obstacle was yet to be 
removed ; the most splendid triumph was yet to be 
won. He had satisfied the demands of Divine Jus- 
tice. He had conquered the powers of darkness ; 
but he had not subdued the heart of man ; that al- 
most impregnable fortress of iniquity, full of pas- 
sions and propensities the most sinful ; subject to 
the dreadful rule of the powers of darkness ; in 
league with the great adversary of all good ; hostile 
to the interests of its rightful Sovereign; unwilling 
to submit to his lawful authority ; and, above all, 
spurning with deadly hatred his kindest overtures 
of pardon and reconciliation. This foe must be 
subdued, and none but the arm of Omnipotence 
could subdue it. Christ, by his death, procured for 
sinful and rebellious man the influences of the Holy 
Spirit, and this mighty and mysterious Agent per- 
fects the triumph of the Cross. Your experience, 
Christians! will testify, that if you have aught of faith 



DISCOURSE XIV. 201 

in your hearts toward the blessed Redeemer, it was 
indeed the gift of God. His Spirit first enlightened 
your benighted understandings to discern the things 
of your everlasting peace. His spirit first convinced 
you of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. His 
Spirit first bowed your will in submission to God's 
will. His Spirit first led you to sincere repentance 
for all your guilt, and to embrace Jesus Christ as 
your only Saviour and your only hope. — And your 
experience also, my fellow-sinners, who are yet 
strangers to Christ, your experience will testify, 
that without the influences of God's Spirit upon 
your hearts you must remain his enemies, and 
have no share in the benefit of his Son's death. 
Else, why is it that you continue to reject this 
Saviour ; you who are so convinced of the short- 
ness and vanity of human life — of the certainty 
of death, judgment and eternity — of the awful reali- 
ties of heaven and of hell — and of the truth of God's 
most solemn declaration, " He that believeth not the 
Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth 
on him ? Why is it that, in spite of all that has been 
done for your salvation ; in contempt of those doc- 
trines of the Cross, which have been so often pro- 
claimed within your hearing, and the truth of which 
you hesitate to call in question ; in disregard too 
of your own best good ; — why is it that you still 
reject the Saviour ? It is because his Spirit is ne- 
cessary to renovate your hearts, and to lead you to 
believe on him. Be convinced, I pray you, of this 
humbling, yet salutary truth ; and let us all look, 
26 



202 DISCOURSE XIV. 

without further delay, unto Jesus as the Author of 
our faith, because he alone can produce this grace 
within us, through the influences of the Holy Spirit 

II. I proceed to consider in what respects Jesus 
is the Finisher of our faith. 

1. Jesus is the Finisher of our faith, because he is 
now accomplishing, and will continue to accom- 
plish, those events, in the economy of God's gov- 
ernment, which are necessary to prepare the way 
for the consummation of his mediatorial work. 
Many of the objects of our faith, my brethren, are 
still future. We look forward to the universal diffu- 
sion of the religion of Jesus, and the complete 
establishment of his dominion through the earth ; 
to the resurrection of all men from the dead ; to the 
dissolution of this material world ; to the day of 
judgment, and to the retributions of eternity. Now 
how much remains to be done in the economy of 
God's government, to prepare the way for the ar- 
rival of these grand and momentous events ! That 
they will happen we do most firmly believe ; but 
we are not enough disposed to think of that 
Omnipotent Agent who is now guiding and con- 
trolling all the affairs of this lower world, with 
reference to the glorious consummation of his 
mediatorial work. It is Jesus Christ who is thus 
wielding the destinies of man, who is accomplishing 
those astonishing changes in the earth, which have 
of late so baffled the conjectures of politicians, so 
confounded the sagacity of the great, and filled all 



DISCOURSE XIV. 203 

men with awe and wonder. It is Jesus Christ who 
will go on to effect revolutions still more surprising ; 
to pull down and build up states and empires ; to 
punish nations for their sins ; to eradicate the re- 
mains of ancient and cruel superstitions ; to enlight- 
en and reform mankind ; to animate the prayers, 
and concentrate the efforts, and knit together the 
affections, of those who have espoused his cause 
throughout the whole world ; to heal the divisions 
and animosities of sects ; and, through the instru- 
mentality of his disciples, to make the influence of 
his doctrines universal among men. It is Jesus 
Christ who will adorn the Church with its millen- 
nial lustre. It is Jesus Christ who will come in the 
glory of his Father to accomplish the dread solem- 
nities of the final day. At his voice the sea, and 
death, and hell shall give up their dead. All men 
shall stand before his tribunal. At the breath of his 
mouth the elements shall melt with fervent heat, 
and vanish into their original nothingness. His 
lips, my brethren, will pronounce the eternal doom 
of each one of us : and as He sentences us, we shall 
either sink into the horrors of the infernal world, or 
rise with him to the joyful mansions of complete 
and unfading bliss. Let us look th$ri, unto this 
Jesus, as the finisher of our faith, because he is 
now accomplishing, and will continue to accom- 
plish, those events in the economy -of God's govern- 
ment, which are necessary to prepare the way for 
♦he consummation of his mediato^al work. 




^ 



204 DISCOURSE XIV. 

2. Jesus is the Finisher of our faith, because he 
continues to instruct us more fully in the doctrines 
of the Cross. — The Christian's faith is in one sense 
progressive. He is not at once enlightened into 
the knowledge of all the truths of the kingdom of 
God. V By reason of use, his senses are exercised 
to discern both good and evil." By embracing 
wider and wider views of religious truth, he " leaves 
the principles of the doctrine of Christ, and goes on 
unto perfection. 55 He searches his Bible. He lis- 
tens to the public ministrations of the word. He 
explores the recesses of his own heart. He looks 
back upon the experience of his past life. He 
scrutinizes the dispensations of Providence. He 
extracts from all these sources the richest food for 
his faith. He acquires a supply of heavenly man- 
na ; and, nourished by it, he is continually growing 
up unto " a perfect man, unto the measure of the 
stature of the fulness of Christ. 55 Now to whom is 
the Christian indebted for these various sources of 
improvement in the Divine life ? Who is thus, by 
his providence and his word, casting a brighter and 
brighter light upon the Christian's path toward 
heaven, elevating his views more and more above 
the things which " are seen and are temporal, and 
fixing them with intenser gaze upon the things 
which are not seen and are eternal ? 55 It is Jesus 
Christ, the Disposer of all events, the Shepherd of 
his own flock, the Head of his church, the King in 
Zion. To him, therefore, let us look, my brethren, 
as the Finisher of our faith ; because he continues 



DISCOURSE XIV. 205 

to instruct us more fully in the doctrines of the 
Cross. 

Finally ; Jesus is the Finisher of our faith, be- 
cause he confirms and invigorates this grace within 
us by the influences of his holy Spirit, and will 
finally perfect it in the unclouded vision of the 
heavenly world. The kingdom of heaven in the 
heart of believers is like a grain of mustard seed ; 
small in its origin ; gradual in its growth, but all 
the while pushing upward to maturity ; unfolding 
its latent energy ; and at last, when transplanted to 
the paradise above, displaying itself in complete 
luxuriance, and beauty, and perfection. Faith is 
this germ of all the Christian graces ; but how 
much Divine culture is necessary, ere it discloses 
its proper fruits ! Too often, the cares of this world 
and the deceitfulness of riches choke this seed, and 
it becomes unfruitful. Indeed, it would soon lan- 
guish and die, did not the same hand which origin- 
ally planted it in the believer's heart, continue to 
refresh it with the dews of Divine grace. Jesus 
Christ is careful not to forsake those whom the 
Father has given him. Having begun the good 
work of faith in the soul, he will carry it on unto per- 
fection. Yes, Christians, notwithstanding your er- 
rors and sins ; notwithstanding your deplorable 
conformity to this world ; notwithstanding the 
injury you do to the cause of the Redeemer, by so 
ungratefully neglecting to act in all things as be- 
comes his humble followers ; notwithstanding the 
little you do for Him by whose blood you have 



206 DISCOURSE xtv. 

been redeemed from the curse of the law, he does 
not forsake you. How often does he reclaim your 
wandering feet, by convincing you that the world 
which you are sometimes seduced to love, is but 
vanity and vexation of spirit 1 How often does he 
excite within you the sigh of penitence for your 
sins ! How often does he lead you to form holy and 
successful resolutions of amendment! How often 
does he guard you against the temptations which 
do most easily beset you ! How often does he 
chasten you by frustrating your favourite worldly 
projects, and by depriving you of some worldly 
good, and thus lead you back to God ! How does 
he bless you in the enjoyment and use of all the 
means of grace ! How does he condescend himself 
to occupy your hearts by the influences of his Holy 
Spirit, confirming and invigorating your faith, and 
increasing within you every Christian grace and 
virtue ! And thus will he still continue to reclaim, 
to chasten, to instruct, and to guide you. If you 
are truly his disciples, nothing shall separate you 
from his love ; nothing — " neither death, nor life, 
nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor 
things present, nor things to come, nor height, 
nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able 
to separate you from the love of God, which is 
in Christ Jesus your Lord." He will ever be 
near you, to strengthen and increase your faith. 
By this faith he will fortify you to resist the great 
adversary of your souls. By it, he will enable you 
to overcome the world. By it, he. will purify your 



DISCOURSE XIV. 207 

hearts and ripen you for heaven. By it, he will 
cause you to triumph over your last enemy, the king 
of terrors. By it he will thus bring you to the gates 
of paradise. — Then shall Faith have done its per- 
fect work. Then shall Jesus be emphatically the 
Finisher of it, by rendering it no longer necessary : 
for he will introduce you to the unclouded vision 
of the heavenly world. Faith will be swallowed 
up in sight. " Now ye see through a glass darkly, 
but then face to face : now ye know in part, but 
then shall ye know even as also ye are known.' 5 
Then will be the termination of the race that is 
now set before you. Then, if you continue sted- 
fast unto the end, you will receive from Christ 
himself that crown of glory which fadeth not away. 
Look, therefore, my brethren, unto Jesus, as the 
Author and Finisher of your faith. Look unto him 
with a spirit of confidential trust : for His omnipotent 
arm manages, in its vast extent, the sublime work 
of redemption, and will bring it to a most glorious 
and successful result — a result which will reflect 
the brightest lustre on the character of God, and 
redound to the eternal and unspeakable happiness 
of all who put their trust in him. Look unto him 
with a spirit of humble docility : for m him " are hid 
all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge :" from 
him must you hope to derive that light of Divine 
Truth, which is to shine in the dark places of your 
understanding ; thence to dispel all error, and 
doubt, and perplexity, and to guide you in the way 
everlasting. Finally, look unto him with a spirit of 



208 DISCOURSE XIV. 

cordial dependence : for the Comforter, which he 
sends, first shed abroad the love of God in your 
hearts. And to this same Spirit of holiness must 
you constantly be indebted for the increase of your 
faith. He alone can preserve it from shipwreck.— 
He alone can make it as an anchor of the soul, both 
sure and stedfast. He alone can so confirm, and 
invigorate, and ripen it, that it shall be prepared at 
last to be finished and swallowed up in the uncloud- 
ed vision of the heavenly world. 






DISCOURSE XV, 



HEBREWS Xil. 2. 



Looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our 

faith. 

While discoursing from these words, the last 
Sabbath, I attempted, my brethren, to place before 
you the several respects in which Jesus Christ may 
be considered as the Author and Finisher of our 
faith. From what was said, it would seem that he 
is entitled to this appellation for the following rea- 
sons : because he accomplished those events in the 
economy of God's government, which were neces- 
sary to open the way for the promulgation of the 
doctrines of the Cross ; because he promulgated, 
by himself and by his Apostles, these doctrines, so 
glorious to God, and so interesting to man ; be- 
cause he alone produces faith within us, through 
the influences of the Holy Spirit ; because he is 
now accomplishing, and will continue to accom- 
plish, those events which are necessary to prepare 
the way for the consummation of his mediatorial 
work; because he continues to instruct us more 
fully in the doctrines of the Cross : because he con- 

27 



210 DISCOURSE XV. 

firms and invigorates our faith, by the influences of 
the Holy Spirit, and will finally perfect it in the 
unclouded vision of the heavenly world. Such 
are the various attitudes in which Jesus Christ pre* 
sents himself to our view, as the Author and Finish- 
er of our faith. Thus, wielding the sceptre of 
universal empire, and managing in its vast extent 
the great work of redemption ; thus carrying it on 
to a most successful and glorious result, which will 
reflect the brightest lustre on the character of God, 
and redound to the eternal happiness of all who put 
their trust in him ; thus opening the treasures of his 
infinite wisdom and knowledge, and distributing 
most liberally the riches of Divine Truth, to all who 
will receive and use them for the relief of their 
spiritual wants ; thus shedding down, as the choi- 
cest of his blessings, the Holy Comforter, to renew 
the hearts and invigorate the graces of all whom his 
Father hath given him ; thus supporting and guiding 
his disciples, through this pilgrimage of tears, in the 
straight and narrow path which leads to the man- 
sions of eternal rest ; — sustaining this character so 
sublime and so interesting, most justly is he pro- 
posed to us by the Apostle as the great Object of 
our faith. — Wherefore, while running with patience 
the race that is set before us, while struggling for 
that crown of glory which fadeth not away, Chris- 
tians are called upon by every principle of reason, 
by every motive of esteem, by every tie of gratitude, 
continually to look unto Jesus with a spirit of con- 
fidential trust, of humble docility, and of cordial 



DISCOURSE XV. 211 

dependence. These are the affections which 
should glow in the breast of every believer who 
hopes to " hold the beginning of his confidence 
stedfast unto the end ;" — and to urge upon you, 
my brethren, the duty of cultivating these affections 
is the object of this discourse. 

I. First, then, it is the duty of Christians to look 
unto Jesus, as the Author and Finisher of their 
faith, with a spirit of confidential trust. — If he man- 
ages the work of redemption in all its vast and 
momentous extent ; if from that remote moment 
in eternity, when he pledged himself to leave the 
bosom of the Father, and pour out his blood on 
Calvary for the remission of sin, to that glorious 
consummation of his mediatorial character, when, 
all things having been subdued unto him, he shall 
deliver up the kingdom to God, that God may be 
all in all; if during the lapse of these long and 
eventful ages, his hand has wielded, and shall still 
wield, the sceptre of the kingdom of grace, then is 
that kingdom safe, nor shall even the gates of hell 
prevail against it. Let not, then, the weakest dis- 
ciple of Christ give place, for one moment, to 
doubt or despondency. Let him remember who 
that Saviour is in whom he hath trusted. He is 
the Friend of sinners. Full of compassion toward 
a world lying in wickedness, anxious to rescue 
every sincere penitent from the tremendous curse 
of the law, He condescended himself to feel this 
curse, and to drink, to Jts dregs, that mysterious 



212 DISCOURSE XV. 

cup of wrath, the very anticipation of which so ago- 
nized his soul, that his human nature almost shrunk 
beneath the torture, and found a temporary relief 
only in a sweat of blood. Yes, my brethren, the 
garden of Gethsemane, with its midnight scene of 
anguish ; the hall of Pilate, with its cruel scourges, 
and mocking crown of thorns ; the hill of Calvary, 
with its torturing cross and reviling persecutors ; 
these testify with a language, forcible, honest, and 
affecting as the last accents of the dying, that Jesus 
is the Friend of sinners. Never, therefore, has he 
deserted, never will he desert, his mediatorial work ; 
never has he forsaken, never will he forsake, the 
most timid disciple, who sincerely trusts in him. 
Consider then, my brethren, the love which Christ 
bears to all his followers : a love strong as death, 
which many waters cannot quench, nor floods 
drown : and let it constrain you, by a sweet and 
irresistible necessity 9 continually to look unto him 
with a spirit of confidential trust. Consider too, 
that, as Mediator between God and man, he is in- 
vested with all dominion in heaven, and earth, and 
hell ; and that he shall rule till he hath put all 
enemies under his feet. Consider, that in his Divine 
nature, he is the brightness of the Father's glory, 
and the express image of his person, upholding all 
things by the word of his power ; nay, that he is 
(i the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince 
of Peace." As therefore, on the one hand, what he 
hath done for sinners is a pledge that his love to- 
ward all who trust in him will never suffer abatement 



DISCOURSE XV. 21o 

or diminution ; so, on the other, what he is in his 
own exalted and Divine character affords the most 
convincing proof, that if infinite knowledge, and 
wisdom, and power, can secure the accomplishment 
of a purpose, then is the kingdom of grace safe ; 
then shall none of Christ's true disciples perish, nor 
shall any pluck them out of his hand. " Be strong, 
therefore," my brethren, " in the Lord, and in the 
power of his might ;" and let the Divine majesty 
and dominion of Jesus, as well as the unwavering 
constancy of his love, lead you continually to look 
unto Him with a spirit of confidential trust, 

II, Look unto him, also, with a spirit of humble 
docility. — If He has risen upon our benighted earth, 
the glorious Sun of Righteousness, with healing in 
his wings; if His beams alone could dispel the 
cheerless midnight of moral ignorance which brood- 
ed over all the Gentile world; if the rays of His 
truth are still necessary to illuminate the dark places 
of our understanding, and to pour upon the soul the 
refreshing light of " the knowledge of the glory of 
God, as it shines in the face of Jesus Christ ;" then 
ought we no longer to direct our course toward 
futurity by the wandering stars of human philoso- 
phy falsely so called, nor pursue, as guides in the 
path of duty, the deceptive meteors of our own 
proud and erring reason. " We have a sure word 
of prophecy ; whereunto we do well that we take 
heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, 
until the day dawn and the day-star arise in our 



214 DISCOURSE XV. 

hearts." " God, who at sundry times and in diver* 
manners, spake in times past unto the fathers by 
the Prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto 
us by his Son." Jesus Christ hath given us the 
words of eternal life ; and if He is thus the Source 
©f all Divine truth ; if he is the medium through 
which Jehovah hath disclosed to us all that we 
know of his will and our duty, all that we know of 
the pardon of sin and of acceptance with God, all 
that we know of an immortality beyond the grave, 
all that we know of a final judgment, all that we 
know of the joys of heaven and the terrors of hell ; 
then most meekly should we sit at the feet of 
Jesus, and imbibe the lessons of wisdom from his 
lips. Prize, then, ye who profess to be his disci- 
ples, the oracles of Divine Truth which he has pla- 
ced in your hands, on the pages of which he lives 
over again, as it were, his life of humiliation and 
suffering, speaks to you again as never man spake, 
and " before your eyes is evidently set forth cru- 
cified among you." Listen to his voice ; receive 
with meekness his ingrafted word, which is able to 
save your souls ; lean not to your own understand- 
ings ; look continually to Jesus Christ, as your In- 
structor, and Pattern, and Guide, with a spirit of 
humble docility. 

III. Again ; Look unto Jesus, my brethren, as 
the Author and Finisher of your faith, with a spirit 
of cordial dependence. — Our Saviour hath done so 
much in the affair of our salvation, that we are 



DISCOURSE XV. 215 

often led to think he hath not done all ; and that 
something is left for us to perform, which will en- 
title us to at least a small share of credit at the bar 
of God. But this is to forget, that " we were by 
nature the children of wrath ;" that we were dead 
in trespasses and sins ; that God hath quickened 
us together with Christ ; that " by grace we are 
saved through faith, and that not of ourselves, it is 
the gift of God ;" that " we are his workmanship, 
created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which 
God hath before ordained that we should walk in 
them." It is to forget, that we cannot go on to 
\i work out our salvation with fear and trembling," 
unless " God work in us, both to will and to do of 
his good pleasure." It is to forget, that all those 
wonderful events which our Saviour accomplished 
before the doctrines of the Cross could be promul- 
gated : nay, that Divine Truth itself, clad, as it is, 
with all that is terrible in the justice and attractive 
in the mercy of God, will produce no effect upon 
the obduracy of the sinner's heart, without the ac- 
companying energy of the Holy Spirit. No, my 
brethren ; Jesus Christ claims to himself the entire 
honour of our redemption. He died to procure 
that Holy Comforter which first convinces of sin, of 
righteousness, and of judgment, and draws the 
rebellious to the foot of the Cross. And he now 
lives, having passed into the heavens, to intercede 
continually before the throne of God, for those 
influences of the Spirit, without which even his own 
disciples would go back and walk no more with 



216 DISCOURSE XV. 

him. Trust in him, therefore, at all times, for that 
energy of Divine grace which must ever be affect- 
ing your hearts to purify you from the remains of 
sin ; to guard you against the allurements of the 
world ; to fortify you against the assaults of the 
adversary, and to ripen you for heaven. Feel your 
own weakness and insufficiency. Pray without 
ceasing, that Almighty God would grant you, " ac- 
cording to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened 
with might by his spirit in the inner man ; that 
Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith ; that ye 
being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to 
comprehend with all saints, what is the breadth, 
and length, and depth, and height ; and to know the 
love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that you 
may be filled with all the fulness of God." Thus 
look unto Jesus, as the Author and Finisher of your 
faith, with a spirit of cordial dependence. 

And now, my hearers, having attempted to dis- 
cover what the duty is which our text enjoins, and 
what are the motives which urge us to a constant 
performance of it ; it becomes us most seriously 
to inquire whether we do indeed thus look unto 
Jesus as the Author and Finisher of our faith, with 
a spirit of confidential trust, of humble docility, 
and of cordial dependence. One day we shall see 
him coming in the clouds of heaven, invested with 
the awful and majestic glory of his Father, and 
surrounded with an innumerable angelic host, to 
pass the sentence of eternal justice upon all- the 



DISCOURSE XV. 217 

enemies of God. On that day we shall have to 
render at His bar a strict account of the use we are 
making of all the mercies and privileges with which 
we are now favoured. On that great day of " the 
wrath of Jesus Christ" as the word of God most 
solemnly denotes it ; whether we shall say-^ to the 
mountains and rocks, " Fall on us, and hide us 
from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne," or 
whether we shall behold that Face with composure 
and joy, depends upon one single condition — a con- 
dition most simple in its nature, but most momentous 
in its effects. It is, that we now look unto Jesus as 
the Author and Finisher of our faith. Do we thus 
look unto him ? Or is our eye filled with the vain 
shew of this world ? Are we continually busy in 
gazing upon the political prodigies and revolutions 
of the day; the changes of commerce and trade; 
the strifes of party, and the contests for dominion ? 
Are we searching the records of history, exploring 
the mines of science, or feasting our intellectual 
eye with the splendid and fascinating visions of 
literature ? Are we curiously prying into the best 
projects for amassing a little more wealth, for 
adding another leaf to the laurels of our reputation, 
or shedding on our couch of pleasure a softer down ? 
Are we thus engaged, instead of raising a single look 
of supplication for mercy unto Him who is alone 
able to save us from the wrath to come ? Then 
stand we in jeopardy every hour. Then are we 
in continual danger of becoming the victims of that 
"fiery indignation which shall devour the adversa- 
28 



218 DISCOURSE XV, 

ries." " He that despised Moses' law, died without 
mercy under two or three witnesses. Of how much 
sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought 
worthy, who shall tread under foot the Son of God, 
and count the blood of the covenant wherewith he 
was sanctified, an unholy thing ; and do despite 
unto the Spirit of grace !" For we know him that 
hath said, " Vengeance belongeth unto me : I will 
recompence, saith the Lord." " It is a fearful thing 
to fall into the hands of the living God." 

O that these terrors of the Lord, which the uner- 
ring word of his truth discloses to our view — these 
terrors, which we yet behold (so great is the mercy 
of God) only in prospect — these terrors, which cast 
a gloom, dismal as the midnight of the grave, over 
the eternal destiny of the wicked — these terrors, 
which are compared by our Saviour to " the worm 
that never dies, to the fire that is never quenched" 
— these terrors, which are too vast for our concep- 
tion, even when conscience awakens the most fear- 
ful forebodings, and excites the troubled imagina- 
tion to form its most stupendous and terrific images 
of all possible evil — these terrors, over which the 
Almighty hath, in compassion, drawn a veil of par- 
tial obscurity, lest the full sight of them should 
overwhelm us with irremediable consternation and 
despair ; — O that these terrors, which have not yet 
overtaken us. and from which we can yet flee, 
might compel us, as we value the eternal welfare of 
our souls, now to look unto Jesus Christ, who is 
alone able to save us* from the wrath to come ! 



DISCOURSE XV. 219 

I cannot leave my subject without enforcing upon 
you, my Christian brethren, the duty of serious 
self-examination. You profess to be running the 
Christian race, and to be striving for that crown of 
glory which fadeth not away. Is the termination 
of your career continually before you ? Is the eye 
of your faith continually directed to Him from 
whose hand you expect to receive those robes of 
righteousness and palms of victory which will 
adorn your eternal triumph over sin, and death, 
and hell ? If you thus look unto Jesus, the fruits of 
your faith will not be hid. They will put forth their 
brightest and loveliest forms. They will enrich 
your character with a beauty, and cast around it a 
fragrance, that will compel even a censorious world 
to recognize in you the faint though sure image of 
your Father, who is in heaven ; and to confess that 
the genuine spirit of Christianity, so far from deba- 
sing the human character, serves to give it the great- 
est dignity and happiness of which it is susceptible. 
If you thus look unto Jesus, he will most assuredly 
shed down upon you the gifts and graces of his 
Spirit ; and your souls will be always the happy 
residence of " love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gen- 
tleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." 
May Almighty God, by his grace, enable you thus 
to adorn the religion which you profess, and thus to 
feel its influence in your hearts! So may he afford 
you the most satisfactory evidence that you are 
indeed looking unto Jesus as the Author and Fin- 



220 DISCOURSE XV, 

isher of your faith. So may he beget within you a 
lively hope, that there is " laid up for you a crown 
of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous 
Judge, shall give you at the last day ; and not to you 
only, but unto all them also, that love his appear- 
ing." Amen. 



DISCOURSE XVI. 



[Delivered at the Opening of the Connecticut Asylum for the 
Education of Deaf and Dumb Persons, at the Request of the 
Directors, April 20, 1317.] 



Just two years have elapsed, since the first steps 
were taken towards the establishment, in this city, 
of an Asylum for the Instruction of the Deaf and 
Dumb. Those who then embarked in this enter- 
prize felt it to be their duty to commend its future 
prospects to the protection of that Arm which 
moves so easily the complicated springs of human 
action, and wields, with unerring wisdom, the vast 
machinery of Providence. Their united supplica- 
tions ascended from the lips of one* whose venerable 
presence has so often filled this sacred desk, and 
whose spirit, perhaps, now witnesses the fulfilment, 
in some good degree, of his wishes, and the answer 
of Heaven to his requests. His voice no more 
guides our devotions, nor animates us in the path 
of duty : but his memory is cherished in our hearts, 

* Rev. Nathan Strong, D. D. late Pastor of the Church in which 
this discourse wa« delivered. 



222 DISCOURSE XVI. 

and, on occasions like the present, while we mouru 
his absence and feel his loss, let it be a source of 
grateful consolation to us, that the undertaking, of 
which this evening is the anniversary, began under 
the hopeful influence of his prayers. It has met 
indeed with difficulties, and still labours under em- 
barrassments, which are incident to almost all the 
untried efforts of benevolence. Yet, in its gradual 
progress, it has been encouraged by the smiles of a 
kind Providence, and is at length enabled to com- 
mence its practical operation. 

At such a season, the Directors of its concerns 
have thought, that a remembrance of past favours, 
and a conviction of future dependence on God, 
rendered it proper again to unite in solemn acts of 
religious worship. These acts they have made thus* 
public, from a grateful sense of the general interest 
that has been expressed towards the Asylum ; and 
it is at their request that the speaker rises to address 
this respectable assembly. 

He enters upon the duty which has thus devolv- 
ed upon him, not reluctantly, yet with diffidence 
and solicitude, principally fearing that the cause of 
the Deaf and Dumb may suffer, and yet hoping 
that God, in whose hands the feeblest instruments 
are strong, will deign to make our meditations not 
only productive of benefit to the unfortunate objects 
of our pity, but of eternal good to our own souls. 
And, my friends, how soon would the apologies of 
the speaker, and the implored candour of his hear- 
ers, pass into forgetful ness, could we feel that we 



DISCOURSE XVI. 225 

are in the presence of Almighty God, and that the 
awful destinies of our immortal existence are con- 
nected with the events of this passing hour! May 
the Spirit of Grace impress these truths upon our 
hearts, while we take as the guide of our thoughts 
that portion of Scripture which is contained in 



ISAIAH xxxv. 5, 6. 

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the 
ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall 
the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of 
the dumb sing : for in the ivildemess shall waters 
break out, and streams in the desert 

These words depict a part of the visions of futu 
rity which gladdened the eye of Isaiah, and irradiate 
his writings with so cheering a lustre that he has 
been called " the evangelical prophet." His pre- 
dictions are assuming, in our day, some of their 
most glorious forms of fulfilment. For although 
they had a more direct reference to the time of our 
Saviour, by whose miraculous energy the ears of 
the deaf were opened, and the tongue of the dumb 
loosened, yet without doubt, as might be proved 
from the general scope and tenor of the prophetic 
writings, they equally allude to the universal diffu- 
sion of the Gospel in these latter ages of the church, 
and to its happy influence upon the hearts of all 
mankind. The same Saviour, who went aboul 



224 DISCOURSE XVI. 

doing good, is also the Lord of this lower creation. 
He once performed the acts of his kindness by the 
mere word of his power : he now is mindful of the 
necessitous, and makes provision for them, through 
the medium of his providential dispensations. It 
should be matter, therefore, of encouragement to 
us, that the establishment which is now ready to 
receive within its walls the sons and daughters of 
misfortune, however humble may be its sphere of 
exertion, is not overlooked in the economy of the 
Redeemer's kingdom ; that its probable influence 
is even shadowed forth in the sayings of prophecy ; 
and that it forms one link in that golden chain of 
universal good-will, which will eventually embrace 
and bind together the whole family of man. Let 
it awaken our gratitude to think, that our feeble 
efforts are not disregarded by the great Head of the 
church, and that we are permitted thus to cast our 
mite into his treasury. 

In the chapter from which the words of my text 
are taken, the prophet has described the blessings 
of the Redeemer's kingdom, in the richest colours 
of Oriental imagery. He pourtrays by the strongest 
and boldest figures, the joy that will be diffused 
throughout the earth, when the Gospel of Jesus 
Christ shall have been proclaimed to all people, 
and its principles made the universal rule of thought 
and conduct. He would thus teach us the inti- 
mate connexion, even in this world, between holi- 
ness and happiness, and excite our efforts towards 
hastening on the latter-day glory of the church, by 



DISCOURSE XVI. 225 

placing before us the advantages that will result 
from it. Every exertion, then, of Christian benevo- 
lence, which forms a part of the great system of 
doing good, is entitled, so to speak, to the encour- 
agements which the prophet holds forth. I shall 
not, therefore, depart from the spirit of the text, if, 
on the present occasion, I attempt to describe some 
of the benefits expected to result from the exertions 
which are making for the improvement of the Deaf 
and Dumb, and thus shew how it will happen, that 
in this department of Christian benevolence, " in 
the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams 
in the desert." 

The whole plan of my discourse, then, will be to 
state several advantages likely to arise from the es- 
tablishment of this Asylum, and to propose several 
motives which should inspire those who are inter- 
ested in its welfare with renewed zeal and the 
hopes of ultimate success. 

The instruction of the Deaf and Dumb, if prop- 
erly conducted, has a tendency to give important 
aid to many researches of the philanthropist, the 
philosopher, and the divine. The philanthropist 
and the philosopher are deeply interested in the 
business of education. The cultivation of the hu- 
man mind is paramount to all other pursuits $ inas- 
much as spirit is superior to matter, and eternity to 
time. Youth is the season in which the powers of 
the mind begin to develope themselves, and lan- 
guage the grand instrument by which this develope- 
ment is to take place. Now it is beyond all doubt, 

29 



226 DISCOURSE XVI, 

that great improvement has been made in the mode 
of instructing children in the use and power of lan- 
guage. To what extent these improvements may 
yet be carried, time alone can determine. The 
very singular condition in which the minds of the 
Deaf and Dumb are placed, and the peculiar means 
which are necessarily employed in their instruc- 
tion, may furnish opportunities for observation and 
experiment, and the establishment of principles, 
with regard to the education of youth, which will 
not be without essential service in their general ap- 
plication. How much light also may in this way 
be thrown upon what are supposed to be the origin- 
al truths, felt and recognized to be such by the 
mind, without any reasoning process ! Many spec- 
ulations, too, which now are obscure and unsettled, 
respecting the faculties of the human mind, may be 
rendered more clear and satisfactory. How many 
questions, also, may be solved, concerning the capa- 
bility of man to originate, of himself, the notion of 
a God and of a future state ; or, admitting his ca- 
pacity to do this, whether, as a matter of fact, he 
ever would do it ! What discoveries may be made 
respecting the original notions of right and wrong, 
the obligations of conscience, and, indeed, most of 
the similar topics connected with the moral sense. 
These hints are sufficient to shew, that beside the 
leading and more important uses of giving instruc- 
tion to the Deaf and Dumb, their education might 
be made to subserve the general cause of humanity, 
and of correct philosophy and theology. 



DISCOURSE XVI. 227 

But I pass to considerations of more immediate 
advantage ; and one is, that of affording consolation 
to the relatives and friends of these unfortunates. 
Parents, make the case your own! Fathers and 
mothers, think what would be your feelings, were 
the son of your expectations, or the daughter of 
your hopes, to be found in this unhappy condition ! 
The lamp of reason already lights its infant eye *> 
the smile of intelligence plays upon its counte- 
nance ; its little hand is stretched forth in signifi- 
cant expression of its wants ; the delightful season 
of prattling converse has arrived ; but its artless 
lispings are in vain anticipated with paternal ar- 
dour ; the voice of maternal affection falls unheard 
on its ear ; its silence begins to betray its misfor- 
tune, and its look and gesture soon prove, that it 
must be forever cut off from colloquial intercourse 
with man, and that parental love must labour under 
unexpected difficulties, in preparing it for its jour- 
ney through the thorny world upon which it has 
entered. How many experiments must be made 
before its novel language can be understood ! How 
often must its instruction be attempted before the 
least improvement can take place ! How imperfect, 
after every effort, must this improvement be ! Who 
shall shape its future course through life f Who 
shall provide it with sources of intellectual com- 
fort ? Who shall explain to it the invisible realities 
of a future world ? Ah ! my hearers, I could spread 
before you scenes of a mother's anguish, I could 
read to you letters of a father's anxiety, which 



228 - DISCOURSE xvt. 

would not fail to move your hearts to pity, and your 
eyes to tears, and to satisfy you that the prospect 
which the instruction of their deaf and dumb chil- 
dren opens to parents, is a balm for one of the keen- 
est of sorrows, inasmuch as it is a relief for what 
has been hitherto considered an irremediable mis- 
fortune. 

The most important advantages, however, in the 
education of the Deaf and Dumb, accrue to those 
who are the subjects of it ; and these are advanta- 
ges which it is extremely difficult for those of us, 
who are in possession of all our faculties, duly to 
appreciate. He, whose pulse has always beat high 
with health, little understands the rapture of recov- 
ery from sickness. He, who has always trod the 
soil, and breathed the air of freedom, cannot sym- 
pathize with the feelings of ecstacy which glow in 
the breast of him who, having long been the tenant 
of some dreary dungeon, is brought forth to the 
cheering influence of light and liberty. 

But there is a sickness more dreadful than that 
of the body ; there are chains more galling than 
those of the dungeon — *the immortal mind preying 
upon itself, and so imprisoned as not to be able to 
unfold its intellectual and moral powers, and to at- 
tain to the comprehension and enjoyment of those 
objects, which the Creator has designed as the 
sources of its highest expectations and hopes. — 
Such must often be the condition of the uninstruc- 
ted Deaf and Dumb ! What mysterious darkness 
must sadden their souls ! How imperfectly can 



DISCOURSE XVI. 22^ 

they account for the wonders that surround them ! 
Must not each one of them, in the language of 
thought, sometimes say, " What is it that makes 
me differ from my fellow-men ? Why are they so 
much my superiors ? What is that strange mode of 
communicating by which they understand each 
other with the rapidity of lightning, and which en- 
livens their faces with the brightest expressions of 
joy ? Why do I not possess it ; or why can it not 
be communicated to me ? What are those mysteri- 
ous characters, over which they pore with such 
incessant delight, and which seem to gladden the 
hours that pass by me so sad and cheerless ? What 
mean the ten thousand customs, which I witness 
in the private circles and the public assemblies, and 
which possess such mighty influence over the con- 
duct and feelings of those around me ? And that 
termination of life ; that placing in the cold bosom 
of the earth, those whom I have loved so long and 
so tenderly ; how it makes me shudder! — What is 
death ? — Why are my friends thus laid by and for- 
gotten ? Will they never revive from this strange 
slumber ? Shall the grass always grow over them ? 
Shall I see their faces no more for ever? And must 
I also thus cease to move, and fall into an eternal 
sleep ?" 

And these are the meditations of an immortal 
mind — looking through the grates of its prison- 
house upon objects, on which the rays of Revela- 
tion shed no light, but all of which are obscured by 
the shadows of doubt, or shrouded in the darkest 



£30 DISCOURSE XVI. 

gloom of ignorance. And this mind may be set free ; 
may be enabled to expatiate through the boundless 
fields of intellectual and moral research ; may have 
the cheering doctrines of life and immortality, 
through Jesus Christ, unfolded to its view ; may be 
led to understand who is the Author of its being— 
what are its duties to him — how its offences may 
be pardoned through the blood of the Saviour — how 
its affections may be purified through the influences 
of the Spirit — how it may at last gain the victory 
over death, and triumph over the horrors of the 
grave. Instead of having the scope of its vision 
terminated by the narrow horizon of human life, it 
stretches into the endless expanse of eternity ; — 
instead of looking, with contracted gaze, at the 
little circle of visible objects, with which it is sur- 
rounded, it rises to the majestic contemplation of 
its own immortal existence, to the sublime concep- 
tion of an Infinite and Supreme Intelligence, and to 
the ineffable displays of his goodness in the wonders 
of redeeming love. 

Behold these immortal minds ! Some of them 
are before you ; the pledges, we trust, of multitudes 
who will be rescued from the thraldom of ignor- 
ance. Pursue, in imagination, their future progress 
in time, and in eternity, and say, my hearers, 
whether I appreciate too highly the blessings which 
we wish to be made the instruments of conferring 
upon the Deaf and Dumb. 

For the means of anticipating these blessings the 
Deaf and Dumb owe much to the liberality of gen- 



DISCOURSE XVi. 231 

erous individuals in our sister States ; whose be- 
nevolence is only equalled by the expanded view 
which they take of the importance of concentrating, 
at present, the resources of the country in one 
establishment, that, by the extent of its means, 
the number of its pupils, and the qualifications of 
its instructors, it may enjoy the opportunity of 
maturing a uniform system of education for the 
Deaf and Dumb, and of training up teachers for 
such remoter places as may need similar establish- 
ments. 

This State, too, has, we trust, given a pledge, 
that it will not abandon an Asylum which its own 
citizens have had the honour of founding, and 
which claims a connexion (a humble one indeed) 
with its other humane and literary institutions. 

In this city, however, have the principal efforts 
been made in favour of this undertaking. Here, in 
the wise dispensations of his providence, God saw 
fit to afflict an interesting child with this affecting 
calamity, that her misfortune might move the feel- 
ings, and rouse the efforts of her parents and friends, 
in behalf of her fellow-sufferers. Here was excited, 
in consequence, that spirit of research which led to 
the melancholy discovery that our own small State 
probably contains one hundred of these unfortunates. 
Here were raised up the original benefactors of the 
Deaf and Dumb, whose benevolence has enabled 
the Asylum to open its doors for the reception of 
pupils much sooner than was at first contemplated. 
Here, the hearts of many have been moved to office? 



232 DISCOURSE XVI. 

of kindness, and labours of love, which the objects 
of their regard will have reason ever to remember 
with affectionate gratitude ; and here is witnessed, 
for the first time in this western world, the affect- 
ing sight of a little group of fellow-sufferers assem- 
bling for instruction, whom neither sex, nor age, 
nor distance, could prevent from hastening to em- 
brace the first opportunity of aspiring to the privi- 
leges that we enjoy, as rational, social, and immor- 
tal beings. They know the value of the gift that is 
offered them, and are not reluctant to quit the de- 
lights of their native home — (delights doubly dear 
to those whose circle of enjoyment is so contracted) 
— nor to forsake the endearments of the parental 
roof, that they may find, in a land of strangers, and 
through toils of indefatigable perseverance, the 
treasures of wisdom and knowledge. How can the 
importunity of such suppliants be rejected ! Hard 
is that heart which can resist such claims upon its 
kindness. 

Nor, we trust, will motives be found wanting for 
future exertions in behalf of these children of mis- 
fortune. It is always more blessed to give than 
to receive. — Efforts of charity, prudently and use- 
fully directed, never fail abundantly to repay those 
by whom they are made. This is true, not only 
with regard to individuals, but also public bodies 
of men. That town, whose character is one of 
benevolence and good-will towards the unhappy, 
enjoys, in the opinion of all the wise and good, a 
reputation more exalted, more valuable, more noble, 



DISCOURSE XVI. 233 

than it can possibly gain by the most extensive 
pursuits of commerce and the arts ; by the most 
elaborate improvements in trade or manufactures ; 
by the richest displays of its wealth, or the splendour 
of its edifices ; by the proudest monuments of its 
taste or genius. It gains, too, the smiles of Heaven, 
whose blessings descend upon it in various forms 
of Divine munificence. While the hearts of its in- 
habitants expand in charity towards others, and the 
labours of their hands are united in one common 
object, they learn together the pleasure of doing 
good ; they find at least one green spot of repose 
in the desert of life, where they may cull some 
fruits of paradise, and draw refreshment from 
streams that flow from the river of God. They 
feel that they are fellow-pilgrims in the same wil- 
derness of cares and sorrows ; and, while they look 
to that country to which they are all hastening, 
while they tread in the footsteps of Him who went 
about doing good, how quickly do their differences 
of opinion soften ; the lines of sectarian division 
melt away ; and even political jealousies and ani- 
mosities retire into the shades of forgetfulness! 

Yes, my hearers, godliness hath the promise of 
this life, as well as of that which is to come. The 
spirit of Christian benevolence is the only one 
which will change, completely, the aspect of human 
affairs, it has already begun to knit together the 
affections, not only of towns and villages, but of 
numerous sects throughout the world, and seems to 
be preparing to embrace within its influence even 

30 



234 DISCOURSE XVI. 

states and kingdoms. On its hallowed ground, a 
respite is given to political and religious warfare; 
— men lay down the weapons of contention, and 
cherish, for a season at least, the Divine temper of 
peace on earth, and good will towards men. 

Every charitable effort, conducted upon Chris- 
tian principles, and with a dependence on the Su- 
preme Head of the church, forms a part of the great 
system of doing good, and looks forward to that 
delightful day, when the earth shall be filled with 
righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy 
Ghost. 

While, therefore, my hearers, I would endeavour 
to excite an interest in your hearts in behalf of our 
infant establishment, by pourtraying its advantages, 
and addressing to you motives of encouragement 
with regard to its future progress, drawn from topics 
of a more personal and local kind, permit me to 
place before you the purest and noblest motive of 
all, in this, and in every charitable exertion ; — the 
tendency it will have to promote the welfare of the 
Redeemer's Kingdom. 

It was the future advent of this kingdom which 
filled the heart of the prophet with rapture, when 
he wrote the chapter which has been read in our 
hearing. Do we participate, in any degree, of his 
spirit? Do our efforts for doing good, however 
humble may be their sphere of influence, proceed 
from a wish that thus we may be made the instru- 
ments of advancing that period, when the heathen 
shall be given to Christ for his inheritance, and 



DISCOURSE XVI. 235 

the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession ; 
when, through the influence of his Gospel, and the 
efficacy of his Grace, " the wilderness and solitary 
place shall be glad, and the desert shall rejoice and 
blossom as the rose ;" when " the ransomed of the 
Lord shall return, and come to Zion, with songs 
and everlasting joy upon their heads : when they 
shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sigh- 
ing shall flee away." 

It is Jesus Christ whom we are thus bound to 
love, to imitate, and to obey. We are stewards, 
but of His bounty ; we are labourers in His vine- 
yard. Whatsoever we do, should be done in His 
name. For it is by this test, that all our efforts to 
do good will be tried at the great day of His dread 
and awful retribution. Let us not fail then to make 
a suitable improvement of this occasion, by inquir- 
ing, whether our benevolence towards men springs 
from love towards the Saviour of our souls ; wheth- 
er our humanity is something more than the off- 
spring of mere sympathetic tenderness : for it is a 
truth which rests on the authority of our final Judge, 
that, without the principle of Divine love within 
our breasts, we may bestow all our goods to feed 
the poor, we may give our very bodies to be burn- 
ed, and yet by all this be profited nothing. 

While we seek, therefore, to sooth the distresses 
and dispel the ignorance of the unfortunate objects 
of our regard; while we would unfold to them the 
wonders of that Religion in which we profess to be- 
lieve, and set before them the love of that Saviour 



236 DISCOURSE XVI. 

on whom all our hopes rest ; let us be grateful to 
God for the very superior advantages which we en- 
joy — consider how imperfectly we improve them — 
be mindful, that after all we do, we are but unprof- 
itable servants — and thus, feeling the necessity of 
our continual reliance upon Jesus Christ, trust alone 
to His righteousness for acceptance with God. 
That this may be the sure foundation, to each one 
of us, of peace in this world, and of happiness in 
the next, may God of his mercy grant ! Amen 



23? 



The following Hymns, composed for the occasion, 
made a part of the Religious Exercises of the 
Evening. 

HYMN I. (Isaiah xxxv.) 

The wild and solitary place, 

Where lonely silence frown'd, 
Awakes to verdure, light and grace, 

With sudden beauty crown'd. 

Through the long waste, neglected soil, 

A stream of mercy flows ; 
And bids its thirsty desert smile, 

And blossom as the rose. 

Ye feeble hands, your strength renew ; 

Ye doubtful hearts, believe ; 
Unclose your eyes, ye blind, and view ; 

Ye sad, no longer grieve. 

Behold ! the deafen'd ear has caught 

Salvation's raptured sound ; 
Praise to the speechless lip is taught, 

The helpless lost are found. 

Say then, with joyful voice aloud, 

Jehovah's work we see : 
He hath his way within the cloud, 

His footsteps on the sea. 



238 

But righteous is he to perform ; 

His word is truth indeed : 
And 'mid the sunshine or the storm, 

His purposes proceed. 



HYMN II. 

While in this glad, inspiring hour, 
We praise Almighty Grace and Power, 
While strains of grateful music rise, 
E'en with their tone remembrance sighs. 

He, who implor'd, with zeal divine, 
A blessing on this great design, 
Now sleeps in dust ; and sad we bend 
To mourn the Pastor and the Friend. 

Yet, oh ! if angels cloth'd in light, 
E'er hover round this vale of night; 
If mortal wanderings ever prove 
Their watchful glance of guardian love ; 

Perchance, he views his earthly home, 
This lonely flock, this holy dome ; 
And while our humble prayers arise, 
Aids with his harp the sacrifice. 



239 

But who can speak his boundless joys, 
When those who heard their Shepherd's voice, 
Shall meet him in a world of rest, 
And join the spirits of the blest ! 



HYMN III. 

Ye happy, rescued throng, 
Escap'd from gathering night, 
Who mourn'd in darkness long, 
While all around was light. 
As through the cloud 
The day-star gleams, 
Oh ! love the Hand 
That gave its beams. 

And ye whose soften'd souls 
Each generous feeling prove, 
Whose prayers and labours aid 
This ministry of love ; 

Jehovah's name 

Conspire to raise ; 

His was the work, 

Be his the praise. 

i 

TINIS. 






George Goodwin & Son? 
Printers, Hartford. 



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